Today @ The Gathering we continued in our present series, “Chasing Balance” with installment number four, the principle of “Rhythm.”
If it’s important to work, it’s also important to rest. Striking the balance of working enough and resting enough is a lifelong discipline.
Usually, most Americans err on the side of working too much, or at least being in a perpetual sense of activity and motion. With technology affordable and accessible to everyone, we are more plugged in than we’ve ever been. We’re also more tired and stressed out as well.
We learned about the three conditions that occur in our lives when there is no sacred space for rest and worship. They are:
1. Without sacred rhythm life feels more like and existence. That is, going in a perpetual circle of activity.
2. Without sacred rhythm life feels more like a treadmill. We just continue to turn the dial to the right and go faster and faster, hoping that we’ll achieve enough one day to feel as though we’ve earned the right to rest without feeling guilty.
3. Without sacred rhythm life is like a constant sound of static and noise that keeps us distracted and therefore stressed out.
We talked about the fact that God created the heavens and earth in six days and rested on the seventh; not because He was tired, but because He wanted to set an example and to hand to us the Sabbath principle. We highlighted four different aspects of the Sabbath.
1. It is not a particular day. In a world in which everything is open 24/7, many think we can’t use Sunday as a day of rest.
2. It’s not a religious straight-jacket. It’s not something we do for God that meets a need He has, but something He gives to us.
3. It’s a gift. God says that if we work in full engagement for six days, then one day we simply are not available for other people. We go off-line and give attention to our soul to renew, recharge, and relax.
4. The Sabbath principle is a reflection of reality. God created the world to operate in rhythms and seasons: times to be on and times to be off, times to have full engagement and times to pull back and to rest, relax, and renew.
Next week we will continue this series with the principle of “Reserves.”