Learning to Relax

I would never admit it, but I think that I enjoy being stressed. This realization came to me over the past week that I spent with my family relaxing in Florida. My summer has been packed between working at Pine Cove and then going almost straight into a pretty rigorous summer school schedule. Add building an epic lofted bed and furnishing a house and pretty quickly you can imagine how precious my free time has been this summer. I was wound so tight and my mind kept running back to Waco to make lists of things that I need to do and money that I needed to collect from my roommates that I had trouble fully enjoying and appreciating the beauty of my first day on the beach. After my mom saw me struggling to just sit on the beach she even said, "You really have trouble just doing nothing and relaxing don't you?"

Before I could relax under my umbrella and fully enjoy the cool ocean breeze I had to make an "on the go playlist" on my iPod that had an excess of 100 songs in the cue, way more than I could ever listen to in one sitting. I tell you that to give you a look into how check list driven I am, even on the beach. Our society values efficiency and productivity. Check lists are great and they keep my life organized, but there comes a point where productivity can become an idol. I often put my worth in how much I can accomplish or what I can scratch through on my to-do list. As Christians we are called to commit our work to the Lord, but we are not told to be workaholics. I guess that this is really an identity issue. Jesus loves us just as we are, not as we should be and he loves us no matter how much we accomplish. I think that if we are going to bring up committing our work to the Lord it is just as important to bring up one of the ten commandments, "honor the Sabbath day, keep it Holy."

How many of us actually do that? When was the last time you turned off your computer, put away the tools, forgot about the checklists for a day and simply enjoyed the moment you were in? It's scary and it is a huge act of faith. It says, "I trust that God is faithful and by taking this day and doing things that feed my soul, God is going to be active and in my lack of activity, He will provide." So maybe the reason that I have trouble relaxing is because I do not have much practice. Taking a Sabbath requires an act of faith and it is one that I need to adopt. Chick Fil A is the only national food chain that honors the Sabbath and although it seems that I am always craving one of their sandwiches on Sunday I respect their decision. Their profits are right on par with all of its competitors and because they are closed for one day a week, their employees stay fresher and their equipment lasts longer because they hit the off switch once a week. I think that to break my addiction to productivity I need to do the same and simply hit the off switch once a week and trust that God is going to provide.