Friday, April 29, 2016
“Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each
week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest
dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household
may do any work. This includes you, your
sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any
foreigners living among you. For
in six days the Lord made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and
everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and set it apart as holy. Exodus
20:8-11(NLT)
We live in a stress-filled,
burnout-prone world. I have a copy of a
cartoon in my office that shows a zebra looking back at his tail-end. All his stripes are unraveling and falling on
the ground. The caption has him saying, I think I'm having stress! Pat Reams, a dear friend in a former church
stopped by my office one time wearing a T-shirt with a cartoon picture of a
cow, laying belly-up, buzzards circling.
The caption is: I'm all right...really! Stress is everywhere!
According to The Pryor Report[2]
here are some early signs of burnout:
* Do you tire easily? Feel fatigued instead of
energetic?
* Are you working harder but accomplishing
less?
* Are you disappointed in and
short with those around you?
* Do you see less of close friends and family?
* Do you have pains, headaches, lingering
colds?
* Are you unable to laugh at or tell a joke on
yourself?
The more you answer
"yes" to these questions, the closer you may be to burnout.
Even in our play we suffer the
symptoms of our harried existence. A
Saratoga man describes a vacation as ...that brief period of time between trying to get ahead so you can
leave and trying to catch up when you get back.[3] Another man told how his friend's wife has
said ...that being married to him was a
vacation. When [the friend]
commented that it was a really nice thing to say, [he] replied: Well, actually, what she said was I was the last
resort.[4]
Going to a resort like Disney is
a prime example. Families go there to
really enjoy a vacation, and they
spend thousands of dollars to stand in two hour lines in 300° heat! On the drive back they honk the horn in
frustration and make obscene gestures at other drivers that get too close or
don't move fast enough. Traffic is an
indicator of just how insane our lifestyles have become. All traffic lights are red for you, and green
for the other guy – right? It's
incredible – we spend our lives rushing and screeching brakes, getting stopped
by every red light on the road. Then,
when we die, they put us in a long black car, and run every red light! And then, you've got no place to go! It's no wonder burnout is just around the
corner!
Christians have to stop and ask
the question – in light of the fourth commandment -- is stress and burnout what God
really wants for His children?
The answer is a no-brainer, resounding
NO! What God really wants for us is:
Healthy
personal relationships.
Happiness.
Strength
of character.
Family
joys.
Genuine
concern for others.
For You Today
Does that list describe your
life?
Or are you more like the family
coming back from Disney?
[1] Title Image: By
Nevit Dilmen [CC0], via Wikimedia
Commons
[2]Vol 9, No. 1a
[3]James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, (Wheaton, Tyndale House Publishers, 1988),
495
[4]Richard D. Oliva, Reader's Digest, November 1993), 111
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