Category: Balanced Life

Have you ever been challenged about how much time you spend at work instead of with your family? How much time you spend caring for your kids instead of loving your spouse?

Have you felt guilty about how little time you spend serving? Or in community with friends? Or evangelizing? Or caring for the poor? Or exercising? Or reading?

It’s quite convicting to think of all that we’re not doing well – it seems like so much, right? We feel the tug to just…be… a little… bit… better.

We want a balanced life. But in this pursuit, we’re often forgetting the most important step – the hardest step.

We all look forward to rest.

We count down the days until vacation as we picture ourselves relaxing. We can’t wait until the weekend when we get some time off to decompress.

But then that day off comes… and the truth is it didn’t work out like we envisioned. There was that laundry to take care of or that creaky door to repair or that reading we have to catch up on or that last minute preparation for our presentation.

Our to-do lists are just as long as ever, and we feel overwhelmed. Maybe we take a day off and feel stressed the entire time as our tasks loom unfinished in the background. Maybe we give in and work anyway, feeling exhausted and looking forward now to the next day off – the time when we’ll really get to rest.

We like the idea of resting. But the practice is different… not nearly as soothing.

Why does rest not feel restful?

Philippians 4:13 is one of the most popular motivational scriptures: “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

We see it in T-shirts and posters and tattoos. Philippians 4:13 is recited before we take tests, go for job interviews, play football games, or tackle the tough things in life.

It’s what I would imagine a Christian hero in an action movie would say right before the final battle.

But this scripture isn’t just about the challenges that make us nervous or the ones that make us sweat. This scripture is also about helping us relax and rest.

A few days ago my good friend was walking through a grocery store with his 5-year-old on his back. A little bending over to pick something off the shelf and pop.

He was in some discomfort for a few days. Then one morning the pain suddenly became excruciating.

As I write this, he’s getting surgery for a severely herniated disc.