I love daily naps and long walks. No, I am not a sloth. I get up around 5 am, often earlier. But while I work hard, naps and walks have been a part of my regular schedule for thirty years.
Besides the obvious health benefits, the reasons I have napped and walked almost every day is because I know that our Lord doesn’t want us constantly exhausted and stressed out. Take, for example, these passages:
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” Matthew 11:28-30
“But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one.” Luke 10:40-41
“Then Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes.” Matthew 6:22-23
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.” Mark 6:31
The problem with exhaustion and stress is that they can keep us from hearing God’s voice. For example, besides making it difficult to pray, I find it almost impossible to write posts for this blog when I’m in that condition.
But often when I wake up rested from a nap, I immediately have a “burden,” or an idea, of what I should write a post about. Sometimes I even compose entire posts in my mind during my stress-reducing walks.
I know, I know. You’re saying, “But I don’t have a flexible schedule like you, Herb. And I’m really, really busy with work, and kids, and church….”
But your schedule is more flexible than you think. Maybe you can cat nap during lunch at work. Maybe you can watch less TV at night, go to bed earlier, and then get up earlier and exercise. Maybe you can get some counseling about how to deal with your stress.
Whatever the case may be, if you are too busy to “slow down and smell the roses,” then you are also too busy to “consider the lilies.” And that means you are too busy to hear God’s voice in your heart.
Just remember, God doesn’t want you constantly exhausted and stressed, Satan does.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free training site called New Commandment Men’s Ministry
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