Sabbath harbor.

• there are 168 hours in each week
• the average worker has 36 hours of work piled on their desk
• the average worker is interrupted 169 times per day
• many people work 60-80 hours per week
• a British study showed that people who work longer than 60 hours per week actually have a 25 percent decrease in productivity
• the average American gets 7 hours of sleep each night, a steady decrease over the past several years.
  

I’ve been working at this new job for five months now. I’ve got a good job fit, and a great team and leaders to work with. I’ve been given real opportunities for meaningful ministry, and freedom to develop ministry. I’m not micromanaged, nor am I being driven by my leaders to produce results on a racing schedule.

But I’ve been driving myself pretty hard. I didn’t realize it till this past week. I’ve been working 6 days a week, long days, and then my Saturdays have been filled trying to continue the task of settling my family into a new home and life.

My tank has been empty while I tried to generate more work. I think its the internal drive that kicks in when you have a new job. You want to do a great job, to get up to the same speed as everyone else on the team who have been there for years. Only, gunning the engine without fuel can empty you even further.

Friday I finally took a break to Sabbath. I spent some time at Barnes and Noble, picked up a copy of Chuck Colson’s “The Faith”, and worked on my bike. Friday evening I took my wife out for Peruvian food and we hung out at one of our favorite coffee houses. Saturday I spent time with my family watching movies, doing some shopping.

Its amazing how breaking for just a few hours can recharge you emotionally and spiritually. I know that intellectually, but forget it in practice. I’m committed to re-engaging in a Sabbath, because it is a recommitment of obedience to the Creator.

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And 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

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Exodus 20:8-11

Jewish author Abraham Joshua Heschel said it this way:

“In the tempestuous ocean of time and toil, there are islands of stillness where man may enter a harbor and reclaim his dignity. The island of the seventh day, the Sabbath, is a day of detachment from things, instruments and practical affairs, as well as of attachment to the spirit.”