reset-resourcesDid you know God made endorphins to help us feel his joy? In Do You Exercise for the Wrong Reasons? David Mathis explains how the chemicals released during physical exercise are a gift from God to lead us to himself.

A New York Times/Harvard Business Review survey found that employees are more satisfied and productive when four of their core needs are met:

  • Physical needs, met through opportunities to regularly renew and recharge at work
  • Emotional needs, fulfilled by feeling valued and appreciated for their contributions
  • Mental needs, satisfied when people feel they have the opportunity to focus on their most important tasks, and define when—and where—they get their work done
  • Spiritual needs, met by feeling connected to a higher purpose at work

Sabbath rest essential

In Work is not your life: Why Sabbath rest is essential, Hugh Whelchel argues that Christianity satisfies four of these needs by giving us the following tools:

  • In the physical area, God has given us the Sabbath
  • In the emotional area, God has given us work
  • In the mental area, God has given us the resurrection
  • In the spiritual area, God has given us calling

His article focuses on the Sabbath ”and how faithful observation of it can deliver us from feeling stressed, exhausted, and running on empty.” I love his Keller quote:

The purpose of Sabbath is not simply to rejuvenate yourself in order to do more production, nor is it the pursuit of pleasure. The purpose of Sabbath is to enjoy your God, life in general, what you have accomplished in the world through his help, and the freedom you have in the gospel—the freedom from slavery to any material object or human expectation. The Sabbath is a sign of the hope that we have in the world to come.

The Work-Life Balance Myth

I don’t agree with Shawn’s skepticism about achieving work-life balance. However,  at the end of the article he provides some practical tips on how to “do Sabbath”:

  • Take your day off. Simple. Do you trust God enough to do life according to His pattern? The answer is either YES or NO.
  • Do all your “honey-do” lists, and house-catch-up tasks on Saturdays. Go ahead and work hard around the house of you need to. The Biblical idea is just to have ONE DAY that we stop EVERYTHING.
  • Honor the LORD on the Sabbath. Go to church. Worship Him. Serve Him. Give to Him. God knows what’s best for us. God refreshes us through His people, His worship, and His Word. Be faithful to church! Stop making excuses!
  • Take your vacation time. All of it. Don’t feel guilty about it. Don’t answer your cell phone. That’s what voicemail is for. Set up your voicemail to say: “I’m on vacation. I need the rest from work, so I will only be returning phone calls this week that have the word ‘emergency’ in them.”
  • Tell your kids they can do 1-2 seasonal sports. That’s it. Train them to rest. Train them to do 1-2 things, rather than allowing them to try to do everything!
  • Have some YOU and GOD time. Find the quietest part of your day EVERY DAY and BE STILL AND KNOW THAT HE IS GOD. Take some time to read God’s Word and pray! No, you won’t get quite as much done if you stop for 30 minutes and do nothing. But, you’ll be reminded again that YOU DON’T HAVE TO GET EVERYTHING DONE!

Man Gives Diet Advice

We don’t often hear men giving diet advice, and especially not Christian men. Well, Clint Archer defies the stereotypes as he narrates 4 Lessons from my First 100 Days of Healthy Eating. He “decided, under the guidance of my doctor, to cut out all sugar, gluten, processed foods, and all animal products—meat, fish, dairy, eggs— from my diet for three weeks. All I ate was plants, all I drank was plants (i.e. smoothies, not beer!).” I know, it sounds ghastly, but note his verdict:

After three weeks my energy levels were revitalized, my mental focus was sharper, my sleep seemed more reinvigorating, my waistline was gratifyingly diminished, and the nine marks of an unhealthy Clint were noticeably dissipating. So, I extended the experiment to 100 days.

One of the lessons he learned was “health and wellness, including longevity, are more dramatically affected by diet and lifestyle than I had realized.”

5 Ways to Maximize Your Downtime
See #1: RE-THINK YOUR NEED FOR NEWS

Watching (or reading) the news all day is a non-essential time trap. It maybe informative in moderation but is rarely transformative for the churches & communities you have influence over. Ministry is about life change and living our lives to their fullest potential so why do we obsess with more news rather than more living? Sure, news can be a learning mechanism (i.e. learning about culture, current events and policy so that you can be an informed member of society) but unless you have plans to break down the countless complex issues in the news and act on those complexities systematically, you’re left with nothing more than a loosely defined and often biased opinion of each issue. Very valuable (not)!

6 Simple Ways to Avoid Burnout

A neat infographic that reminds us of the basics and provides some stunning (and motivating facts).

More Grace-Paced Living Resources here.