Work and RestIt’s a cycle.

In so many ways.
Each day you work and rest in a million ways, often moving fluidly between one and the other without noticing the transition.
Each week you have days of work and a day or two of rest to cycle through again and again.
Each season of life cycles through the busy, working times and the slow, restful times.

And I find that most often, I’m longing for the season I’m not in. And I can get so lost in the cycle that I can’t even tell what season I’m in. I can feel chronically overwhelmed or constantly lost for direction.

Sometimes the most important thing to recognize about work and rest is that it is a cycle. It’s always changing.

And we can get so lost in the changes that we don’t know whether we are in a season of work or a season of rest.

So identify where you are right now.

Evaluate the demands on your time.
How much of your day are you actually working?
How many things do you actually have on your plate and how much time do they really take?

Evaluate how you use your free time?
How much of your time are spending on “time wasting” activities?
How often do you do things that truly refresh you?

Simply knowing what season you are in will free you up to enjoy it.

Because the problem is rarely the season.
The problem is our perception of the season.

Work is good.
Rest is good.

So identify your season, then embrace it.

Seasons of work still have moments of rest.
Seasons of rest still have times of work.

But you can’t work hard or rest well when you don’t know which you are supposed to be doing.

Identify your season.
Embrace your season.
Then utilize your season so that you find the micro-cycles of work and rest within that season.

If you’re in a season of work and busy and chaos, embrace it! Then recognize that you will have to be intentional with the moments of rest you do have. Don’t waste them.

If you’re in a season of rest and slow and calm, embrace it! Then recognize that if you aren’t intentional with the work time you do have, you will fritter away the whole of the season and leave it feeling drained instead of refreshed. Focus in your work so you can enjoy the season of rest.

And hear me when I say that I know this is hard, when I cry that I’m failing and restarting everyday. But intentionality is always worth the effort.

Because you’ll never rest well if you don’t work hard.
And you’ll never work hard if you don’t rest well.

So take some time today…
Identify Your Season
Embrace Your Season
Utilize Your Season

Be blessed
<3