I’m thinking back nearly fifty years now, to a time when I was lying outside sunbathing. This isn’t such a terrible
thing to do when you’re a teenager, is it? My mother walked by. She was hot and tired because she had been up since
five o’clock in the morning helping my father pick tomatoes for the market. Upon seeing me sprawled out without a
care in the world, she made a comment that I have never forgotten.
All she said as she went by was, ‘It’s nice to be somebody!’
Somehow, lying there doing nothing wasn?t such a pleasure any more, so I got up and asked what I could do to help.
Ever since that day though, I have felt guilty about ‘doing nothing’.
As I get older, I realise that rest and relaxation is necessary for the good of our health. Even Jesus recognised that the
disciples needed a break when He said to them, “Come ye yourselves apart?and rest a while: for there were many
coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat.’ Mark 6:31
God wants you to know that if you don?t take a break, you won’t get one. The first enemy that will try and attack you
is guilt. I stopped sunbathing because I felt guilty about all the hard work my mother was putting in for the family.
We feel guilty resting, because there’s just ‘so much to be done’.
Some people don?t like resting because they don?t like to think about or face the pain in their lives. Do you have an
aching heart? Does it eat away at you all day and keep you awake at night? We can try and hide behind alcohol, drugs
or a hyperactive lifestyle, but that usually just makes things worse.
So what can we do? Bob Gass suggests two things that might help you.
1.Change your focus! Jesus said, ‘Come to me?and I will give you rest?Let me teach you?and you will find
rest for your souls. (Mt.11:28-29NLT) Instead of struggling with the burden, spend time with the
burden-bearer and let Him strengthen you!
2.Change your lifestyle – lighten up – stop making a ‘big deal’ out of everything. Laugh more. Accept your
imperfections. Get away for some fun. Cancel some of your not-so-important meetings. Lie in the sun and relax!
If you want things to change or if you want to feel more relaxed, then it will be up to you to change them. No one else
can do that for you, but if you ask God, He’ll give you the strength to do it! Back to Devotionals Page
