It’s 6:45 Monday morning and my alarm is going off. This means it’s time to get up and get moving; let’s get this day started. I’ve got an hour and a half before I need to leave for my internship, after that I’ll spend at least four hours doing ministry, oh and I have a soccer game tonight so let’s not forget to prepare for that, and I need to squeeze in a run for marathon training. WAIT! I’ve forgotten the most important part of my day, spending time with God and being in the Word. Okay, I’ve made time for everything that needs to happen today, but now I’m tired just thinking about all that I’ve got to do. The remainder of my week looks a lot like Monday; I’ve got my days planned out from sun up to sun down and by the end of the week I will more-than-likely be exhausted.
The question then is this: “How do I get everything done that needs to be done and stay involved with things that I want to stay involved in and not get burned out?” If you have the perfect remedy for this, please share! Personally, I don’t have a remedy for being a superhuman and not ever being tired, and there are definitely days that coffee doesn’t even do the trick. But I do have a suggestion.
This time last year I was just finishing up a book entitled Spiritual Disciplines by Donald S. Whitney. The book covers all the spiritual disciplines that the bible mentions, from fasting to praying. Some disciplines I’m pretty good at, and some disciplines I didn’t even know were disciplines! The one discipline I was most convicted by is the discipline of silence and solitude. Silence and solitude is the practice of saying no to doing things in your free time on your Sabbath or your unexpected day off from work and spending it in silence with God, praying, studying, reading, meditating, RESTING. If you’re an extrovert like me or feel like you constantly need to be doing something, this can sound like a terrifying experience!
Although being silent and resting may sound terrible, I can testify to how beneficial it truly is in my own life and so can God! That’s right, even God rested! We see in Genesis 2:1-3 that God rested on the seventh day when all His work was done. Not only did He rest, but “God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work.” God calls us to rest just as he did. My suggestion then is this: try practicing the spiritual discipline of silence and solitude.
I want to challenge you to set aside 3 hours a month for silence and solitude. It was suggested to me to plan out the three hours like this: 15 minutes to clear my mind, 15 minutes to pray, 15 minutes to read, 15 minutes to meditate or journal, and then do that over again two more times. If you’d like you could even spend some of that time hiking or running, but do it alone and try to focus on God, thanking Him as you go. Three hours may not be ideal for everyone, but it’s a starting point. In my experience, no amount of sleep has given me as much rest as spending time in silence and solitude with the Lord.
