Take a break, already!

If we don’t have a sense of the primacy of God, we will never get it right, get life right, get our lives right. Not God at the margins; not God as an option; not God on the weekends. God at center and circumference; God first and last; God, God, God. –Eugene Peterson


Something happens this time of year. Can you feel it? Summer is over, school has resumed. The Rally Day hot dogs were delicious—and now, almost imperceptibly, the busyness resumes.

It feels as if we are beginning a mad downhill rush towards “the holidays” earlier every year. Stores try to convince we really need this—and that—and we rush from place to place, event to event with scarcely a chance to breathe, let alone stop.

But we need to stop. Research shows, time and again, that taking a break, or observing Sabbath (even if it’s on a Tuesday afternoon) results in increased productivity and an overall improvement in physical and mental health. We feel better.

Taking Sabbath doesn’t mean ceasing all activity; rather, it involves a sharpened awareness, a clarity of vision. Think of it this way: God worked hard at creating for six days, and rested on the seventh. But God didn’t rest because he was tired. (He’s God, for pity’s sake!) No. When God finished, he stopped and looked around at all he had created. God marveled at the work of God’s hands. And God saw that it was very good.

Should we not do the same? Step back. Open your senses to the presence of God in your everyday life. (It is good, isn’t it?) More meditations this week from The Message [Colorado Springs, CO; NavPress, 2002].

Monday “First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.” Genesis 1:1-2

Tuesday “God spoke: “Light!” And light appeared. God saw that light was good and separated light from dark. God named the light Day, he named the dark Night. It was evening, it was morning— Day One.” Genesis 1:3-5

Wednesday “God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters; separate water from water!” God made sky.” Genesis 1:6

Thursday “God spoke: “Separate! Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place; Land, appear!” And there it was. God named the land Earth. He named the pooled water Ocean. God saw that it was good.” Genesis 1:8-10

Friday “God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties of seed-bearing plants, every sort of fruit-bearing tree.” And there it was.” Genesis 1:11-12

Saturday “God spoke: “Lights! Come out! Shine in Heaven’s sky! Separate Day from Night. Mark seasons and days and years, Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.” And there it was.” Genesis 1:14-15

Sunday “God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! By the seventh day God had finished his work. On the seventh day he rested from all his work. God blessed the seventh day.” Genesis 1:31; 2:2


If you don’t take a Sabbath, something is wrong. You’re doing too much, you’re being too much in charge. You’ve got to quit, one day a week, and just watch what God is doing when you’re not doing anything. –Eugene Peterson

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