Why I Schedule Time for Rest

I love tasks. I love making a list of tasks. I love thinking about them. Most of all I love completing them. I’ve even been known to write down an already completed task only to cross it off immediately.

My wife can tell you of many weekends that she was expecting to rest or do something fun and Friday night I was already building a list of tasks in my head that we could accomplish the next day.

I was singularly focused on ‘getting stuff done’.

Truthfully I still am that way but I have worked to get better at understanding the need for balance.

One of the things that has significantly helped me to find more of a balance between being and doing is scheduling time for rest.

For me that means writing down things that are important for me and my family’s spiritual and physical health. I will write it down on my list of things to do for the day or week or even schedule it into my calendar.

A few of the things I schedule time for:

• Take a nap this afternoon
• Devotion time in the morning before work
• Pray with Leah 15 minutes before bed
• Family worship time every Wednesday night
• A hike through the woods on a monthly basis
• A family camping trip or other vacation
• A date night for my wife and I on a weekly basis (often at home)
• A night or weekend for a personal retreat

Your ways to find rest will be different. Just find things that bring you physical or spiritual rest and write them down. Making them a part of your task list will likely help you to value them more highly and actually do them more often. At least it has for me.

Do you schedule out rest activities for yourself or family?