Not Enough Time Syndrome!

"I tried to rest last week" 
"How did it go?"
"I feel like they were wasted days, I was not productive, and now I feel guilty.  I would like to be able to rest more in my day but I do not know how to do this."

What is the answer here?  We know we should use our time to get more sleep, more exercise, more time with family/friends, more time to prepare nutritious meals, more time to rest, more time to... you fill it in...  The list can be endless and we would never have enough time to complete this "should" list.

The "not enough time" syndrome in no respecter of sex, race, religion, or age.  The new parents struggling to get one full uninterrupted hour of sleep, the caregiver that constantly monitors their loved one, or the college student working full time and going to school full time.  There are times in our lives, hectic seasons, where we do choose to work more hours in our week and our priorities change.  What happens though when that season is over, it is time to readjust the priorities, and it is time to stop working 60 -70 hours per week.  Sounds like a simple task but not always.

So where are you with your work/rest quotient?  How do we know when we have crossed over into an unhealthy level?  In an article by Karen Marchant entitled, "Sssh...I Need Quiet!" asking the following questions are encouraged:

• Are you spread so thin you feel tired all the time?
• How often do you make time to play?
• Do you have difficulty relaxing?
• Does your mind race a lot?
• Do you "need" to have the television or radio on for background noise?
• Do you spend meaningful time with God each day?
• Do little things stress you out and set you off?
• Do you have a difficult time saying no?
• When was the last time you stopped to enjoy a cup of tea or a sunset?
• Do you feel responsible for everything but also guilty if you stop to rest?

I would also encourage adding one more question for those who are believers in Christ.  Is God REALLY asking me to do this?  You know whatever your "this" is.  I would encourage going before God, taking the way you spend your week in prayer to God, and ask for the truth to be shown.  You may be surprised to learn that God does not ask you to do more than the time God has given you.  

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.   Genesis 2:2 NIV

Resources:

James Emery White, Time Control.  Sermon series available at Mecklenburg Community Church.

"Sssh...I Need Quiet!", Karen Marchant, Focus On The Family, March 22, 2011.