{"id":43,"date":"2016-12-15T21:59:17","date_gmt":"2016-12-16T03:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/?p=43"},"modified":"2017-09-15T12:54:58","modified_gmt":"2017-09-15T17:54:58","slug":"work-hard-rest-hard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/work-hard-rest-hard\/","title":{"rendered":"Work Hard, Rest Hard"},"content":{"rendered":"

Work and rest are meant to go together<\/span><\/p>\n

We live in an unbalanced world. Most of us have figured out the \u201cwork hard\u201d part, but we struggle to live into the \u201crest\u201d part. We run from activity to project to meeting to training, and we rarely stop to fully rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

We rarely stop to be still, to know God.<\/span><\/p>\n

We rarely stop to assess and recognize what God is doing in our lives \u2013 the blessings and the tests.<\/span><\/p>\n

We rarely stop to recharge, renew and refresh our bodies and our souls.<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, we become exhausted, sick and spiritually depleted. <\/span><\/p>\n

As I have talked with many of you over the past six months I have come to realize that busyness has become an enemy. You work with great fervor, and your heart for building the kingdom of God is admirable. But you are tired. You have struggled to find rest in your life and ministry. <\/span><\/p>\n

If this is you I want to encourage you with this:<\/span><\/p>\n

Your hard work will never be as fruitful as it can be unless you learn to rest hard as well. <\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

While I don\u2019t think many of you struggle with the opposite end of the spectrum, it is important to mention. Too much rest and not enough work is also dangerous. As mentioned in the last newsletter (Doing productivity well), people were made to work. It\u2019s through work that we find great fulfillment and meaning. Our work connects us to our deep call to be fruitful, to multiply and to rule over creation. Therefore too much rest and not enough work is not healthy either. <\/span><\/p>\n

Harnessed for healthiness<\/b><\/p>\n

Like two oxen yoked together, work and rest are meant to go together. The two concepts must be joined together, pulling your life in the right direction. If either one is unharnessed, success is impossible; the plow either goes wildly off course or crashes altogether. However, when operating in tandem, work and rest can lead us towards being wholistically healthy leaders.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding balance<\/b><\/p>\n

Here are eight simple concepts that I hope will help you move towards a healthy rhythm of work and rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Work:<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Working hard and being productive is a good thing. Man was made to work and as we see in Proverbs 12:11,14 hard work in balance can lead to abundance and reward. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. A good work ethic can also be a witness to others (Matthew 5:16). The world takes notice of our efforts and wonders why we do what we do.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Rest:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      \n
    1. Rest requires that we stop working for some <\/span>length of time<\/i><\/b>. Don\u2019t be fooled into thinking rest is taking 5 minutes here and there. That is not true rest.<\/span><\/li>\n
    2. To stop working (to rest) means you need to disconnect, shut down, and turn things off. There is an explicit action to <\/span>stopping<\/i><\/b>.<\/span><\/li>\n
    3. Work can become an addiction. And we usually need help beating addictions.<\/span><\/li>\n
    4. The concept of Sabbath and the Year of Jubilee are biblical examples of weekly and seasonal resting. These must be scheduled into our system if they are ever going to happen.<\/span><\/li>\n
    5. Hard work helps you rest. Good rest helps you work hard.<\/span><\/li>\n
    6. What the fool does in the end, the wise man does in the beginning. Build rest into the rhythm of your life, before you get to a place in your life and work where you HAVE to take a rest.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      How is your work\/rest balance? <\/span><\/p>\n

      If you are struggling to schedule rest into your week, month and year, you are not alone. I realize it is not easy. You are busy. However, as an organization we value pursuing God\u2019s ways and recognize that rest is a principle implemented and commanded by God. I would be happy to help you talk through this in your life. We can work together to implement a work\/rest balance that is healthy for you. It\u2019s our prayer and God\u2019s will that you flourish as wholistically healthy leaders!<\/span><\/p>\n

      Growth Point:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      You must find a work and rest balance if you want to flourish in your ministry<\/span><\/p>\n

      Scripture Point:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Read Ephesians 5:15. Reflect on what a wise balance in your life looks like.<\/span><\/p>\n

      Action Point:<\/strong><\/p>\n

      Implementing a schedule is key. Take time this week to specifically schedule times of rest for the coming months. Prioritize them and guard that space. For some that may be 1 or 2 hours a week, for others it may be a day a quarter or a half day each month. \u00a0It\u2019s for you to determine; pray, discover and implement what works best for you. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n

      http:\/\/www.stephenrgraves.com\/articles\/read\/work-hard-rest-hard\/<\/span><\/p>\n

       <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      Work and rest are meant to go together We live in an unbalanced world. Most of us have figured out the \u201cwork hard\u201d part, but we struggle to live into the \u201crest\u201d part. We run from activity to project to meeting to training, and we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":44,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-43","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-productivity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43\/revisions\/45"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reconciledworld.org\/flourish\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}