I don’t know about you, but I love people who take initiative. I love when people see a need/problem, whether it be laundry on the floor, groceries to put away, gaps in communication, etc and do something to directly help with/fix the problem. I like to think I am a person with initiative because when I see things/tasks that need to be done, I almost immediately work on it.
However, too much of a good thing can be pretty bad. Here’s a little story to illustrate:
A few siblings were hosting a dinner party of about 10-15 people in their home. One of the sisters had a habit of taking the initiative and was subsequently spearheading the activities. She saw the needs of the night and was trying to make sure herself and her siblings got everything done. As you can imagine, there’s a lot of food and drinks that needs to be cleaned up, prepared, and served. However, she was getting overwhelmed with hosting and serving, and her keen eye spotted her sister chatting with some of their guests, not helping in any way. She then asked the guest speaking with her sister if she could have her sister back to help.
Does this sound familiar to you?
This is my retelling of the story of Mary and Martha.
“Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house. 39 And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word. 40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.
41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: 42 But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
– Luke 10:38-42 (KJV)
Last year, I wrote a devo on this passage, and it was about remembering that we serve a God whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light.
However, sometimes in spite of, or even because of our good intentions, we make our own burdens heavier and forget how to rest in God. God created the Sabbath for us to intentionally rest, but we can also misread how to Sabbath.
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
– Exodus 20:8-11
For years, I thought verse 9 – “Six days you shall labor and do all your work” – meant that if I didn’t complete all my work, I didn’t have the right to rest.
However, this passage can also be interpreted that all the work you do during the week should be within those six day, not necessarily meaning that you have to complete all your work within those six days or else you couldn’t sabbath.
There is another case disproving my original theory:
“And so it was, on the sixth day, that they[the Israelites] gathered twice as much bread, two omers for each one. And all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. 23 Then he said to them, “This is what the Lord has said: ‘Tomorrow is a Sabbath rest, a holy Sabbath to the Lord. Bake what you will bake today, and boil what you will boil; and lay up for yourselves all that remains, to be kept until morning.’ ” 24 So they laid it up till morning, as Moses commanded; and it did not stink, nor were there any worms in it. 25 Then Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will be none.”
27 Now it happened that some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather, but they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, “How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws? 29 See! For the Lord has given you the Sabbath; therefore He gives you on the sixth day bread for two days. Let every man remain in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.”
– Exodus 16: 22-30
Notice that the Israelites rested on the seventh day. There was no bread to gather/work for on the seventh day for those who completed the work required and also for those who didn’t complete all the work required. God wanted His people to rest, regardless of of whether they had worked/gathered double bread on the sixth day or not.
This is something I am starting to work on: resting even when stuff is incomplete. For example, my family and I went on a road trip, and as I had quizzes due in the first half of the trip, I had to bring my school work along. However, I also had midterms the week following our arrival home. After I completed the quizzes, I had to choose between relaxing and enjoying the time with my family or getting ready for midterms.
Now, it has not been lost on me that I’m apparently not good at taking breaks. I have been told by numerous people that I should regularly Sabbath and take a day off to prevent myself from burning out. My idea of a break is cleaning the fan lights and detangling wires for the tv. I know. I’m totally serious here.
I also knew how rare it is for me and my family to be able to go away together and just take a break. With that in mind, I didn’t touch any school work for the rest of the trip. This wasn’t procrastination. I actually did want to study and was feeling a little uneasy about leaving it off. That’s the intiative in me talking. Again, there’s nothing wrong with having initiative, but sometimes, we do need to take the initiative to stop and rest. In doing this, I learned that you don’t have to get everything done at once. In most cases, leaving it until the next day or a more appropriate time (such as after vacation) is perfectly fine. While I was taking a break from school and work, I had more time to spend with God, and I also got to soak in nature, explore new places and food, and just do nothing. It was quite restful and a much needed break for me.
Rest does not and should not only happen on vacation. Sabbath was made so we could rest in whatever way we need. In reality though, it can be difficult to find a full day to do so, but if you can’t completely block out an entire day, a suggestion I got from Silvia was to make Sabbath a 24hr block, such as 1pm on Saturday to 1pm on Sunday. You don’t have to follow that method, but try to find practical ways to rest and spend time with God while you’re at it.