SOME MUCH NEEDED R&R
Mark 6:31
Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, 'Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest'"
Guiding has been a passion for about 40 years. I've been blessed to guide across the united states from Alaska to South Texas and many places in between. I actually just hung up the phone with a friend I'll be guiding for turkeys this coming weekend. I love the feeling of success when my friends are successful on the hunts I guide. There is a drive to keep going until we're successful... at all costs.
In past years I would often guide from one hunt to the next without even a day to refresh in between, sometimes for months on end. While I had the motivation to keep pushing on during the hunts, there were times when I had nothing left to give physically or at times even emotionally for the last hunts or by the time I got back to my family. I was just plain worn out.
Several years ago I guided elk and muledeer hunters for 3 straight weeks. I rode back to Michigan with some friends at the end of the last hunt. I fell asleep in the back seat in Steam Boat Springs, Colorado and woke up when we pulled into my driveway in Michigan. I was completely and totally exhausted.
We've become a world of over achievers or at least attempted over achievers. We push ourselves in our work to the point of wearing out before we should. So many times we hear people boast about how many years since they've taken a vacation from their work, as if it's a badge of honor. That's not the way God created you and I.
We ran a ministry in Colorado that was designed for pastors to get away from their work to refresh. It all sounded great to every pastor, until it came time to schedule. With few exceptions we would hear, "I can't leave my congregation at this time." And those pastors never made it to come and rebuild themselves emotionally or spiritually. A pastor friend once told me that his church had a budgeted amount of $3,000 a year for him to get away for a time of refreshing. I asked him how often he used that money in the eight years he had been at the church. His answer was zero. A phenomenal young pastor who burned out and is no longer in ministry.
There's a quote from Chuck Swindoll that speaks to this... "Work is fast becoming the American Christian's major source of identity. The answer to most of our problems (we are told) is "work harder." And to add the ultimate pressure, "You aren't really serving the Lord unless you consistently push yourself to the point of fatigue." It's the old burn-out-rather-than-rust-out line."
My dad was a driver, when there was work to be done he did it. It's a good trait in moderation, but you can't work 7 days a week 12 hours s day and stay productive. Eventually your good production times get fewer and fewer and you are of no use to anyone. You must take time to refresh your energy.
Churches all have a budget line for facilities; something set aside to maintain the structure that they serve in. We wouldn't build a new church building and totally ignore the building while we met and served within it, would we? But we do that with our lives... eventually the building and our lives fall apart. It's inevitable.
We need to know that it is ok to relax, to refresh. It's not only okay, it is required to remain effective. It's ok to have fun for more than a few minutes at a time. The word recreation, is recreate or re-create. It means to rebuild ourselves or better yet to relax long enough to allow God to re-create us from the inside out
What are you trying to accomplish in your life? Is it worth burning out over? Allow yourself the time to rebuild and refresh before heading back into the daily battle. Even our military knows the value of R&R. Those letters are military slang for rest and recuperation. If even the government knows it's important, how much more important is it for God's people?
Psalm 3:5
I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me
Take some R&R
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