(no subject)
Deuteronomy 5:12
… Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
Hebrews 4:10
… for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their [the Israelites in Exodus] example of disobedience.
Hello friends,
I realized it’s been a month’s passing since I’ve written up one of these. There are far too many thoughts that have come and gone to bring up now, but I pray that through this month our Father has been teaching you many things and refining you each day to help you move and understand living in whatever circumstances you find yourself.
Today as I was preparing myself for a book study I have with some young women tomorrow, I started a chapter that talks about women and work. Though the book is specifically geared towards women I found that some of what the authors said to be helpful insights for anyone. Since the topic of work/rest is one that’s been on my mind lately, I decided I would share their insights here.
“Collapsing into bed entirely drained is not the same as snuggling under the covers looking forward to some well-earned rest. The difference: satisfaction. A busy day of fruitless activities depletes; a full day of productive and satisfying work satiates. … [men and women] were created both to work and to take joy in our work. God gave the mandate to rule the world and subdue it to both Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden-and subduing the world takes work. Yet we feel happiest when we are productive, and achieving a balance of work and rest is the key to successful living. It all depends on the work we choose.”
“In [the author’s] experience, the most productive and satisfying work we do is the work that is in keeping with our created strengths, natural abilities, and spiritual gifts-and all those job qualifications come from God. … The most stressed out people today are those who are working outside of their innate gifts and abilities, outside of their values, and outside God’s plan for their lives.”
“Part of satisfying work is rest. God modeled this when he rested after creation was complete. Knowing when to take Sabbath seems to slip our mind and never makes it onto our crowded calendar. The tendency to worship the work ethic has led to a preponderance of people who are workaholics. … In some expert’s estimation, work compulsion is an addictive behavior. Presenteeism has overtaken absenteeism as a work issue. When we find ourselves in this mode, then we compromise our productivity and our lives become imbalanced. We have then traded our satisfaction quotient for a frustration factor. Busyness can annihilate our hearts.”
What kind of things come to mind as you read these excerpts? I know for me the things that pop out are balance versus imbalance, satisfaction versus frustration… if I properly rested - REALLY rested in God’s grace and set time to embrace that rest - then I think some things in my own life would look a little differently. Where do you work hard without satisfaction? The work place? At home? Relationships? Your own reputation or status? There are a thousand different ways that “work” can be defined as far as it stands before God and resting our entire lives in God’s hands. But in the sense that the excerpts talk about above is having such a flurry of busyness that there’s no room to be satisfied, to rest. This is not the way it’s meant to be. To observe the Sabbath or to rest from work is so important that it’s even in the 10 commandments - alongside not blaspheming God and not murdering, and so on. That probably means it’s pretty important to us as human beings… and yet it’s so hard to do.
How can you find your rest and be satisfied in your own work? I pray that you can find it- that we all would wrap ourselves up in God’s love and identity in Christ in such a way that busyness would not annihilate our hearts.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne
P.S. Since this is rarely once a week now, perhaps I should rename it. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, feel free to pitch them my way. Thanks! :)
… Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.
Hebrews 4:10
… for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us therefore make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their [the Israelites in Exodus] example of disobedience.
Hello friends,
I realized it’s been a month’s passing since I’ve written up one of these. There are far too many thoughts that have come and gone to bring up now, but I pray that through this month our Father has been teaching you many things and refining you each day to help you move and understand living in whatever circumstances you find yourself.
Today as I was preparing myself for a book study I have with some young women tomorrow, I started a chapter that talks about women and work. Though the book is specifically geared towards women I found that some of what the authors said to be helpful insights for anyone. Since the topic of work/rest is one that’s been on my mind lately, I decided I would share their insights here.
“Collapsing into bed entirely drained is not the same as snuggling under the covers looking forward to some well-earned rest. The difference: satisfaction. A busy day of fruitless activities depletes; a full day of productive and satisfying work satiates. … [men and women] were created both to work and to take joy in our work. God gave the mandate to rule the world and subdue it to both Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden-and subduing the world takes work. Yet we feel happiest when we are productive, and achieving a balance of work and rest is the key to successful living. It all depends on the work we choose.”
“In [the author’s] experience, the most productive and satisfying work we do is the work that is in keeping with our created strengths, natural abilities, and spiritual gifts-and all those job qualifications come from God. … The most stressed out people today are those who are working outside of their innate gifts and abilities, outside of their values, and outside God’s plan for their lives.”
“Part of satisfying work is rest. God modeled this when he rested after creation was complete. Knowing when to take Sabbath seems to slip our mind and never makes it onto our crowded calendar. The tendency to worship the work ethic has led to a preponderance of people who are workaholics. … In some expert’s estimation, work compulsion is an addictive behavior. Presenteeism has overtaken absenteeism as a work issue. When we find ourselves in this mode, then we compromise our productivity and our lives become imbalanced. We have then traded our satisfaction quotient for a frustration factor. Busyness can annihilate our hearts.”
What kind of things come to mind as you read these excerpts? I know for me the things that pop out are balance versus imbalance, satisfaction versus frustration… if I properly rested - REALLY rested in God’s grace and set time to embrace that rest - then I think some things in my own life would look a little differently. Where do you work hard without satisfaction? The work place? At home? Relationships? Your own reputation or status? There are a thousand different ways that “work” can be defined as far as it stands before God and resting our entire lives in God’s hands. But in the sense that the excerpts talk about above is having such a flurry of busyness that there’s no room to be satisfied, to rest. This is not the way it’s meant to be. To observe the Sabbath or to rest from work is so important that it’s even in the 10 commandments - alongside not blaspheming God and not murdering, and so on. That probably means it’s pretty important to us as human beings… and yet it’s so hard to do.
How can you find your rest and be satisfied in your own work? I pray that you can find it- that we all would wrap ourselves up in God’s love and identity in Christ in such a way that busyness would not annihilate our hearts.
In love and in Him,
Your sister,
Yvonne
P.S. Since this is rarely once a week now, perhaps I should rename it. If anyone has any thoughts or ideas, feel free to pitch them my way. Thanks! :)