rest

Blog Train Yourself to Be Godly #10: Working for Jesus

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

*Training yourself to be godly may include viewing your work as working for Jesus.

Who are you working for?

When asked this question, you might think of the name of your boss or the company you work for. Some of you might think, “Well, I work for my family, it doesn’t matter who signs my paycheque or who gives me orders for the day, it’s all so I can provide for my family.”

1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” Here are a few ideas on how to give glory to God in our work.

1.         Work as if Jesus were your boss!

Colossians 3:23 tells us: “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” Work willingly, work hard, as if you are serving the Lord. Do your work as if you are working for Jesus.

This verse is in the context of Paul writing to slaves, encouraging them to please their masters all the time, even when they are not being watched. Paul expects that slaves, Christian slaves, should be great workers for their human masters, as if they are serving Jesus! If they are to do so, how much more should we who choose to work where we do!!

I wonder if our work ethic would change if Jesus were our boss?

2.         Work as a witness to Jesus

If the people you work with or serve know that you call yourself a Christian, but you are a terrible employee, what would make them interested in being a Christian?

In Titus 2: 9-10, Paul again addresses slaves when he writes: “Teach slaves to be subject to their masters in everything, to try to please them, not to talk back to them, and not to steal from them, but to show that they can be fully trusted, so that in every way they will make the teaching about God our Savior attractive.”

One might think a slave might have a good excuse not to work hard, or to find any way they could take advantage of their master, since they are being taken advantage of by them, but Paul encourages them to do their best so they might make the “teaching about God our Saviour attractive.” He expects that how they work will reflect well on God or not.

In his book, “The Practice of the Presence of God”, Brother Lawrence writes about how one can practice God’s presence no matter the task. His job was a thankless job of cleaning pots and pans, but he is well known for his consistent and joyful devotion to Jesus in the middle of his daily, menial work.

Practice God’s presence at work by talking with Jesus as you go about your day, Remember that he is a constant companion.

3.         Don’t let work take the place of Jesus – Or don’t make work your idol!

Some people are consumed with their work. They work all the time. They can’t stop. They don’t take time for their family, or to enjoy life, or to enjoy time with God. Their whole identity is wrapped up in their job – their position or their status or their power that comes with their job. Simply put… for some, work becomes their idol.

Do you know what God did after six days of the work of creating? He rested! Genesis 2: 2-3 tells us: “On the seventh day God had finished his work of creation, so he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he rested from all his work of creation.”

God ceased from all his work.

There must be a time for us to stop. There must be a time to say, “Enough”.

One way of preventing work from becoming an idol is to take a day off. Take a day to rest, take a day to stop, take a day to focus on the One you Worship. Refocus yourself at least once a week on the one you are truly serving, and on the one you should find your identity in, not in your work. God commanded the Israelites to remember the Sabbath every week.

The Discipline of Sabbath is not just about rest, but an opportunity to refocus regularly on God as the one we worship! It is a constant reminder that we live for God, not for our work. We are to find our identity in Him, not in our work.

View your work as working for Jesus, to honour him, and to use it as a witness to Him.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

What to Do When You Have Nothing to Do

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

The life of a pastor is usually a very full one with many expectations placed on us. There is always another sermon to write or lesson to prepare or meeting to lead. There is another report that needs to be written and an appointment to keep. Even when no one else is placing requirements on us, we have priorities that we want to address. It is not often we experience a period of having nothing to do, but it can happen.

Summers are often slower times. Many programs break for a few months, and there are fewer demands from people as many are on vacation. There may also be fewer sermons to prepare as guest missionaries or ministry partners visit to share updates.

So what do you do during less busy times?

Take a vacation.

Summer might be the perfect time for you to take a vacation with your family or friends. Because there are fewer demands on you at this time, it is easier to get away. Fewer of your responsibilities need to be covered by someone else if you are gone.

Take an extra day off.

Most pastors work much more than a 40-hour work week, putting in many more hours than you are compensated for. When you have a slow day or week, why not take an extra day or afternoon off and surprise your family with a day trip?

Spend time with God.

All of us can benefit from more time with God. If you have time, book off an afternoon, or a day for a personal retreat. Read scripture, pray, go for a prayer walk, or practice a spiritual discipline or two. Ask God to speak into your life, showing you where you need to grow. Ask God to give direction for the next year.

Remind yourself of your priorities.

A slow day allows you to remind yourself of your priorities. It may be a time to evaluate how you have been spending your time. Maybe you need to realign your schedule or refocus on areas that have been slipping. Make sure you are doing the job God is asking of you.

Clean your office.

This may sound like a meaningless task, but there is something therapeutic in cleaning one’s space. Organize papers, throw out stuff that is cluttering your desk or shelves. This process helps you present a more organized feel to those who enter your office and also helps you to remove distractions.

Take your spouse on an impromptu date.

Has it been a while since you went on a date? Take advantage of the time you have and do something on the spur of the moment. Go out for a special meal or enjoy a picnic by a nearby lake or river. Take time to go for a slow walk, talking together about life and the family and your relationship with Jesus.

We are so driven as pastors that we sometimes find it hard to enjoy a slow day. Don’t let it go to waste or fill it with busy-ness. Do something meaningful and refreshing.

I hope you get to enjoy some slow days this summer!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Relax and Rest!

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

Rest doesn’t always come easily for driven people. Many pastors and church leaders are passionate about what they do. They are busy, sometimes with expectations put on them, but often because they see another thing that could be done to help move things forward. There is another person to visit, another meeting to prepare, or a new program to plan for. And Sunday is always coming. Every weekend needs another sermon, and service, and lesson prepared. Rest doesn’t always make it onto the “to do” list.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.

Genesis 2: 2-3 (NIV)

We see four things God did as He concluded his creation. He finished, rested, blessed, and made holy the seventh day. God quit working. There was a certain point where God said, “That’s enough,” and he stopped working. Not only did he stop working, but he also rested. He took a break. He paused from the work and enjoyed a rest. And then he made the seventh day special by blessing it, and he “made it holy.” He set aside from all other days as a special day.

The people of Israel were told to celebrate the Sabbath every week. There were strict warnings from God to the Jewish people to keep this day as a day to stop working and rest and delight in Him and His creation.

Most Christians do not keep the Sabbath in the way that the Old Testament taught, and I don’t believe we need to; yet finding time to stop working and to rest and delight in God is still honoring to God and a huge benefit to all believers. For many, especially pastors, Sunday is not a Sabbath rest. This past Sunday was a good example. My wife and I left home in the morning at 8:30 am and did not return until 9:30 pm. We had a full Sunday. I had to set up and teach Sunday School. I then led a special Prayer Service. This was followed by visits to three different homes: lunch with one family, tea with another, and supper with a third. In that time, we debriefed the morning with an elder, anointed and prayed for a sick church member, and enjoyed playing games with some other friends. While not a Sabbath rest, as such, this was a great way to spend a Sunday, enjoying God and people.

Spending time with our church family, learning and worshipping together is part of Sabbath. Praying for people and anointing them with oil can be part of Sabbath. What many church leaders and pastors miss out on is the Sabbath rest aspect. For some, this works on a Sunday. For others, we need to set time aside at another time. My wife already asked me which day I was going to take off this week, but a Sabbath is more than just a day off. A meaningful Sabbath is a time to follow the example of God: to stop working, to rest, to delight in the day and in His Creation, and to contemplate the holiness of God. It may include feasting and church and family and friends.  It may include prayer and scripture reading. If you finish the day rested, with your joy refreshed, and feeling God’s pleasure, then you have “sabbathed” well.

I would encourage you to take time in your week to, not just take a day off, but to enjoy God and his creation and rest your body, mind, and soul.

Take time to relax and rest in the presence of God.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Unravelling the Tangled Mess

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

When I was a kid, I loved flying my kite. I remember one windy summer day in the field just down from our house, releasing my kite into the sky. It was a thrill to feel the pull of the wind on the spool of string as the kite dove back and forth. I let out more string, and more string. The kite grew smaller as the string rolled off the spool until… oh no! The string was not tied to the spool in my hand! I had let the string reel out and suddenly the string was all gone – the kite was no longer tethered to the spool in my hand! I panicked! I scrambled after the kite, desperately trying to grab the string. After a few frantic attempts I managed to snag the string. In my panic I hauled the string in, not rolling it up neatly on its spool, but gathering it in a tangled pile at my feet until I had the kite back in my hands. I never managed to untangle that pile of string again.

Sometimes, in an attempt to control our busy lives, it seems we end up with a tangled mess of roles and responsibilities at our feet. We do everything we are supposed to do or have signed up for, but we desperately try to untangle the mess and get a sense of control back. Each of us needs to manage various roles in work and life.

Recently I felt like my life was resembling that pile of tangled string. I had some family issues that took precedence over all my other responsibilities. Everything else got put on the shelf for a week or so. I focused on the one thing that was most important in the moment. After that week, I recognized I had some untangling to do.

I needed to figure out which strings to pull to start unravelling the mess. I had to take out a calendar and plot out my responsibilities to make sure I was working on the right things at the right time. We can’t work on everything at once. No matter how many responsibilities we think we can handle, we can only work on one at a time. I had to break down my responsibilities into manageable periods and schedule them on my calendar. I had to plot when I would focus on my transitional pastor responsibilities. I needed to chart when I would work on my transitional coaching duties. I needed to clearly schedule when to work on my doctorate work. I needed to schedule some family responsibilities. It took some work to sort it all out, but the end result was a plan that gave me peace. I could see my way through.

Whatever is in your tangled mess of string, you can find your way through. Ask God to help you sort it out. And ask God to give you the time you need to accomplish what is on your plate. I know from experience, that God can enable you to work faster or to somehow stretch your time to do all He is asking of you. He will help you sort it out. Don’t panic or give up. Sort it out and begin working on one responsibility at a time.

Carve out a time of retreat. Even a hour or so away from everything may give you the necessary time to evaluate your priorities and determine what you need to focus on and in what order. Then after the retreat you can advance with a plan.

We all have numerous responsibilities. Sometimes they pile up and its hard to know where to start in addressing all the needs, but with God’s help you can do it.

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

Summer Road Signs Series – #2: Stop Signs

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

We began the Summer Road Signs Series with speed signs. Now we’ll go to the opposite: stop signs. While moving forward and heading toward new adventures and new goals is exciting, there are times when we must stop. Eventually we have to take our foot off the gas, apply the brakes, and stop.

Stop signs remind us of a few things. Sometimes we need to stop because we are coming to an intersection, and other traffic may be coming through. If we don’t stop, we may be hit by other traffic. There are times when we need to slow down and stop in life. We have all kinds of distractions and frustrations and even opportunities coming our way all the time.

Sometimes we need to stop to just reset ourselves, to get our bearings. We need to remember to watch out for what is going on around us. Are there dangers we have been ignoring? Are there opportunities we have missed because we have been going forward with such passion and determination, we never recognized them? Slow seasons can give opportunity for us to stop and assess where we have been, where we are, and where we are going.

For ourselves and our families, stopping to spend time reconnecting is valuable. Summer can be busy chauffeuring kids to camp or swimming lessons or tutoring. It can fill up with family gatherings and other expectations. But take time to spend with your family doing very little except being together. Instead of working on another project or chasing another busy thing, slow down and just listen to each other and talk about each other’s dreams and desires, hurts and frustrations. Pause to listen to each other.

In our desire to move ahead, have we left people behind? Do we need to give time for our team to catch up with us? As pastors, we set vision and direction for our churches. Are we giving time for our teams and churches to capture that vision and move with us? As leaders, our jobs include thinking about our goals and our vision all the time, but the reality is that those lead have other things on their minds too. They are not necessarily prioritizing moving towards these goals at the pace we are. A stop sign may remind us to give time for those we lead to catch up.

A stop sign could be at a T-intersection where we need to choose right or left. In our desire to move ahead, there are times we need to stop to figure out our next direction. What’s next? Just blindly choosing a direction in order to keep going may take us in the opposite direction of where we should be heading. Even if you are confronted with two equally good options, the stop will give space to allow you decide which one to take.

A stop sign may also be a reminder to just pause. We all need, in biblical terms, an occasional sabbatical. When God created the world, the seventh day, the final day, was a day of rest. It was a time to recognize that the work that had been done was enough. It’s okay to stop. To rest from busyness and take a break. A sabbatical is a reminder that our worth is not found in what we produce or what we do. When the work stops, you are still loved by God and valued as a person, a child of His.

There is also value in having other “sabbath” times. Taking a vacation can be a sabbath as we stop doing and pursing and producing and enjoy the people around us and take pleasure in the world God has created.

Yes, it is fun to move ahead at full speed, but it is important to recognize the stop signs and take the important breaks that refresh and reorient us for the next part of our journey.

Enjoy the stops signs!

Keep looking up,

Andy Wiebe

P.S. Next week’s road signs: Watch for Wild Animals

5 Ways to Personally Leverage Slow Seasons

/ thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

Most churches experience seasons in their ministry. There are times that are slow, times that are steady, and times that are extremely busy. Summer is often a slow season for many churches. The church I’m serving right now has Vacation Bible School at the beginning of July, and then only a monthly prayer meeting and Sunday morning services for the rest of July and August. How can we use the slow times in a beneficial way?

  1.  Slow down yourself.

Maybe you can adjust your vacation time to have shorter days in the office and spend extra time with your family. Maybe you can take an extra day off to enjoy a long weekend doing something fun with your kids. Or just take some time to focus on a personal hobby. Allow yourself time to slow down a bit. I’m not sure that taking vacation in the summer is the best plan. Sometimes we need to save that break for in the middle or just after a busy season. Enjoy the time at home with your family without a bunch of commitments for you or them, to distract you from each other.

2. Take a personal retreat.

    Maybe you can go camping by yourself or go to a local retreat center for a day or two to spend time with God. Talk with God about what has been happening in the last year and ask God for direction for what is next. I have benefited from even a half day retreat out of the office to just spend time with God.

    You might want to ask God to help you plan your next preaching year. Pray through what God is asking you to preach on. Start by choosing which books of the Bible to preach on, or consider if there is a topic that your church needs to address scripturally. Do a rough summary of the texts that you identify and how many sermons you might need to fully preach through the topic or book so you can start plotting them on a calendar for the year ahead. These opportunities to plan a preaching year have been of great benefit to me when I have been in the middle of busy seasons. It has been very helpful to have a plan in place already.

    3. Read a book or two.

    I have been greatly encouraged through reading good books. You probably have a list of books, maybe even a pile of books, that you have been meaning to read. This is the time. Or maybe there is a topic you would like to know more about. Maybe there are certain trends or cultural issues that are affecting your church and ministry.

    Look for a book that addresses that issue. Ask around for recommendations from others for a book that speaks to your church’s needs. I recently enjoyed some great books by Preston Sprinkle on issues of sexuality and gender.

    4. Connect with friends.

    Summer may be a time to connect with leaders or members in your church, but it may also be a time to connect with friends who are not involved your ministry. It may be a pastor down the road, or a friend in another part of the country. Good friends can be very encouraging and may be worth a trip to meet up with. Do a road trip with your family that includes the opportunity to connect face to face with your friend.

    5. Enjoy nature.

    Our slow time for many is summer. Summer is a great time to enjoy God’s creation. Go for a walk with your spouse. Go camping if that is your thing. Take a day trip to nearby waterfalls or into the mountains. Enjoy a picnic by a lake. Maybe catch a fish and fry it up for supper. Allow yourself to breathe some fresh air and slow down in God’s creation.

    We all have busy times. Sometimes we feel like we are running to just keep up. So take the time to slow down during the slow times. Your health will benefit, and so will your relationship with your spouse, with your family, and with God.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    Doing Good Work

    / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

    Work is part of daily life for most people. We use our minds and our muscles to create and contribute to our world.

    Work is an essential part of why we were created. In Genesis 2: 15 we read, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it” (ESV). This happened before the Fall, where Adam and Eve sinned and received God’s judgement. And this is part of who we were created to be. When God finished creating the world, we are told he “rested from all his work that he had done in creation” (Genesis 2: 3). We are created in the image of God, so we are created – in part – to work. The ideal life is not one without work, but one in which we find joy in our work.

    Work became harder after the Fall, after Adam and Eve sinned. Genesis 3: 17 – 19 tells us that work now became more difficult.

    “…cursed is the ground because of you;
        in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;
    18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
        and you shall eat the plants of the field.
    19 By the sweat of your face
        you shall eat bread…”

    God also created us to rest. God created us for a regular rhythm of work and rest. He created for six days and then rested on the seventh. All throughout the Old Testament God continued to tell his people, to work for six days, then rest on the seventh.

    Many of us work jobs that have shift work that doesn’t line up with a seven-day work week, but we can all make sure to rest when we have our days off. We fulfill our purpose as we keep a rhythm of work and rest.

    The New Testament agrees with Genesis: we are created to work. Ephesians 2: 10 tells us, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them”. When we come to faith in Jesus, he works in us to do good works. There is no instruction about what these exact works are to look like or how we are to go about them. Instead, we are told in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Whatever we do, whether we are working or taking a day off, whether we are spending time with friends or attending a church service, we are to do everything we do for the glory of God!

    Like most of life, how we handle work requires balance. On one extreme is the lazy worker, the one who slacks off as soon as the boss walks away. This is the one who takes extra long breaks and helps himself to supplies from the shop for his own projects at home. This is the worker who does whatever he can to keep his contribution to the company to a minimum. If this is you, then you have some serious questions to ask yourself. How are you reflecting the creator in your work? How are you doing your work for the glory of God?

    On the other extreme is the workaholic. This is the one who prides himself in how many hours he has put in this week. I have heard pastors boast about how many hours they work each week, as if this makes them extra special. Or maybe they feel this shows how much they are willing to sacrifice in order to serve the church. Sacrificing your energy, time with your spouse and your family, or even time with God is not a sacrifice that God is going to be impressed with. Boasting about how many years you have gone without a holiday does not make you a good worker in God’s eyes. Where is the balance of work and rest? Where is the understanding that work is one priority in your life, not the main one. How many, men especially, have poured their lives into their work and had no time and energy to pour into their kids at home? Sometimes we may find ourselves in a situation in which we need to work more hours than allows for a good balance, whether this is due to financial stress, busy events or seasons at work, or many other life circumstances. However, if you choose to work beyond what leads to a healthy life for you and your family, it is likely time to re-evaluate your priorities.

    In the middle is the balance we are all trying to find. Putting in a good day’s work and having time to love and play with your family is ideal. Christians should always do good work. We should be able to echo the evaluation of God at the end of Creation: “And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1: 31). We should be proud of our efforts at work, and what our effort accomplishes. And we should be proud of the time we have to pour into our family and what those efforts accomplish.

    I write with the Christian leader in mind. So, Christian leader, how are you doing with your work and rest, and work and family balance? And don’t get caught up in the mindset that we have to work hard for and at the church at the cost of time with family. The father who desires to have a reputation of someone always serving the church needs to balance their efforts at the church with their time with their family as well.

    We are created to work, and to rest. May God guide you as you balance your work and the rest of your life.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    Rest, Refresh, Re-energize!

    / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

    I realized that I did not take a day off last week, and it showed. I was more tired by the end of the week than I usually am. I felt a push to get certain things done and decided to work on them on my day off. Most of us get a day or more off from work each week, and if you work shift work you may get a few days or weeks off after putting in several weeks in a row.

    Time off should be a time to rest, refresh, and energize:

    A Change of Routine

    Some say that a change is as good as a rest. I’m not sure that is true, but a change of routine can be good for us. If we always go in to work, a day home can be a good change. If you work from home, not logging onto your computer for the day might be a good change or spending the day out of the house going shopping and running errands might be a welcome change. Your mind can take in a different set of stimuli than it has at work all week. It uses different parts of your brain to do these tasks than what you would do at work. You may use different muscles on a day off which can benefit your body.

    A Rest

    Rest is not easy to get in our busy lives, but a day off may allow you to sleep in a bit or grab a nap in the afternoon. You can demand less of your body, giving it a rest as well.

    If you regularly spend your day on the computer, you can rest your eyes. I didn’t feel I needed rest on my last day off, so I worked instead. At the end of the week, I realized a restful day would have been of benefit in the long run. I may have had a little more energy to carry me through the next week.

    Do Errands

    All of us have things on our to-do-lists. Some of them have been there for a while. We may be able to be more focused at work if we know that we cleared some of those items off our list at home. If we have maintenance on our house or car that should have been done but has been put off, that can hang on us all week at work. Do the things you need to at home on your day off so you can focus on your work through the next week.

    Catch up with Friends

    Some of us have few friends. Is it because we never take time to connect with people outside of work. If your “work friends” are true friends, then hopefully you do some fun things together outside of work. Most of us will have other friendships that we maintain outside of work. Do something fun together. It could be a simple dinner out or a game night together. Find people who charge you up. We all know people who drain us. Those are not people you want to spend your time off with. You can’t afford to be drained from your time off and then head back to work exhausted. Get together with friends who pour into you and energize you.

    Learn Something

    I like to read. That is relaxing and energizing at the same time for me. I want to learn and be challenged. Learn something new. If you like working around the house, you could watch a YouTube video about how to place tile on your kitchen counter. Or you could sign up for a self-directed online course that you can work on a bit every time you have some time off. You could even watch baking shows, both for the entertainment, but also to learn another trick to try the next time you bake.

    Do Something Meaningless

    Some of us are so driven that we feel we can’t “waste” any time. Every day has to accomplish something.

    Maybe you just need to watch a movie for fun or go feed ducks. Maybe you need to make a fire in the backyard and just watch the flames and enjoy a s’more or two. Read a fiction book to let your imagination run wild.

    Do Something Meaningless

    Some of us are so driven that we feel we can’t “waste” any time. Every day has to accomplish something. Maybe you just need to watch a movie for fun or go feed ducks. Maybe you need to make a fire in the backyard and just watch the flames and enjoy a s’more or two. Read a fiction book to let your imagination run wild.

    Use your time off, whether it is a weekly day or a week each month, to rest, refresh, and re-energize yourself for the next stretch of work. Take time to slow down and enjoy life.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy Wiebe

    Book Reviews: Andy’s 2022 Reading Experience

    / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

    I will be sharing a brief review of every book I read this year. Hope you enjoy and hope it encourages you to keep reading.

    UNBURDENED – by Vance Pitman

    This is among the TOP 3 books of the year so far! I know that I often describe the book I am reviewing as good, this one is great. Unburdened: Stop Living for Jesus so Jesus Can Live Through You is a much needed book for today’s Christian. We get so caught up in “doing what I need to do” to be a good Christian, that we slip into religion and loose the relationship with Jesus. Vance Pitman states in the Introduction: “The Christian life is not me living for Jesus but Jesus living His life in and through me.” Instead of having a list of do’s and don’ts to become a better Christian, work at building your relationship with Jesus. The more time you spend with Him, in tune with Him, listening to Him, and obeying Him, the more like Jesus you will become. Pitman describes our purpose as a Christian: God brought you to Himself so out of the outflow of your intimate relationship with Him – which is Christ in you, working through you – you could share in His mission locally and globally in fellowship with others.” The key in all of that is to pursue an intimate relationship with Jesus and the rest will flow out of you naturally. A great book that you will be challenged and encouraged by as a Christian.

    Plan a Restful, Renewing Break

    / thinkingoutsidethetextbox / Leave a comment

    Some people come home after a holiday, wishing they had a week off at home to recover. Holidays are not always restful. Sometimes we use vacation time to meet up with family, which can be really good – or really draining. Sometimes we fill our vacation with so much activity that we come home exhausted.

    We all need a break from time to time. For many people, these next two months are the window within which we can plan our holidays. The weather is nice, the kids are out of school, and many organizations slow down over the summer.

    It is the perfect time to take some time off. But there is a big difference between taking time off for a busy vacation and having a restful and renewing break from the busyness of life.

    If you need a week off to recover from your vacation, you are too busy on your vacation.

    It is tempting to use our holiday time to do the many things we wished we could do all year. Maybe we stay home but are constantly on the go with golfing in the morning and swimming with the kids in the afternoon and campfire with family in the evening. While all those things are great, unless we actually take time to slow down, many of us will feel just as tired, if not more, when we return to work.

    Is the summer the best time to take a vacation?

    Many of us assume that we must take our vacation in the summer, but is that true? Is that best for you and your family? Do you already have weekends off? Why not make the most of them during the summer? Enjoy the slower time in the office and the relaxation of being home with the kids without running off to all kinds of sports or school activities. If you are one of the families who have kids in summer sports you may not have this luxury.

    Vacation during a busy season may be more helpful.

    Some of us may have the freedom to take a vacation during other times of the year. You might even benefit from lower off-season prices at hotels and vacation spots. In this way, taking time off during a busier work season can be more refreshing than during a time of year that may be slower. If it is possible to take a week off during one of your busy times, you may just come back with more energy and get more done than if you just pushed through as usual.

    But we have to take holidays when the kids are out of school!

    One father said, “We never let education interfere with our holidays.” You may be able to take your children out of school for a bit if they are in lower grades and they won’t miss much. As they get older you could take your vacation during their school breaks in the middle of the year. If you are really concerned about what they will miss in school, ask the teachers if they can give you some assignments for the kids to work on during your time away.

    Find ways to rest and be refreshed and renewed.

    There are times to plan holidays with every day and hour filled with activity. There are other times where you recognize you need more sleep and time to slow down and just be. If you are a normal busy family you might benefit from time to just be together without having all kinds of activities on the agenda. Maybe you can rent a cabin on the lake, or go to a resort, and then just do whatever comes up in the day. Feel free to go for a swim when you want, or nap beside the pool. If you like reading, bring a good book. If your family plays board games, bring some to play in the evenings. Just enjoy being together and resting from your busy life.

    Take your vacation time!

    There are people who pride themselves on not taking all their vacation time. That is ridiculous! If you have the time, why not take it? If you don’t get paid holidays and don’t have money to do much, make your time off count with a “stay-cation” in your own backyard. Take the time for yourself and your marriage and your family that is available to you. Treasure the time you have together while you still can!

    Give yourself permission to slow down and do the “nothing” of relaxing. There are times when it is quite okay that we haven’t accomplished anything in the day, except be together with the people who matter the most. Take your time to slow down and relax so you are ready to go back to your busy lives when the vacation is over.

    Have a great summer, and if you are on vacation, take time to slow down.

    Keep looking up,

    Andy