Class was to start in about an hour when I felt it. My throat started to feel slightly off. Congestion started to build. By the time class ended 5 hours later, I had no voice. I did my best to maintain distance from the participants in hopes that I wouldn’t spread the germs. I knew I would be spending the next day on the couch.
In actuality, I spent the next two days on the couch. I had been pushing hard for several weeks. Busy workdays were followed by weekends filled with course prep and grading. Squeezed in between all of that were a few family obligations. I was tired and looking toward July. I just needed to get to July.
My body disagreed with my brain and slight congestion and fatigue took over. I was forced to rest. My brain and body welcomed the hours of Netflix, mini nap and simply doing nothing. I managed to sneak in some grading but primarily did nothing for two days. Clearly, I needed it and not just because I was sick.
1 Unless the Lord builds the house,
the builders labor in vain.
Unless the Lordwatches over the city,
the guards stand watch in vain.
2 In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to[a] those he loves. (Psalm 127: 1-2 NIV).
It was fair to say that God was not my focus as I labored away. It was in vain the way I was pushing forward. It took being forced to rest, forced on the couch, that I was able to refocus. I was reminded of the importance of rest. I was reminded to refocus on God. I was reminded of the value of having margine in life.
It is easy for me to let busyness take over and lose focus on the things that matter most. Do you lose focus? Do you labor in vain? Share your experience here and breathe life and bring hope to others.
I relate to your experience because I have had to learn this lesson so many times in my 58 years of life. In some things, like this, it seems I am such a slow learner. I use to push push push to the point the body and brain would start to dysregulate and not function at its best and sometimes the body would just give out. I never learned how to rest and only rested because I was forced to due to getting sick or be so exhausted that I hit a wall. I was so driven that in the drive, I missed wonderful and beautiful things God was trying to give me along the journey. In my experiences, I finally realized that it is in the resting that strength and wisdom are gained. Jesus modeled this for us as he would take time away and remove himself from the day to day grind.
You are so right. We push and push and then miss the wisdom found through rest as Jesus modeled. Thank you.