Work, Work, Work

"Come to me, all you who are weary and overburdened, and I will give you rest" (Mt. 11:28). Rest? "I have no time for that; I have work to do." "...and Jesus, tired from the long walk, sat wearily beside the well at noontime" (Jn 4: 6b). "Jesus was in the stern, asleep on a cushion" Mk 4: 38). Jesus invites, admonishes us to rest, and is not ashamed to take time to rest and sleep himself, showing us that we owe it to ourselves to honor the need to rest and rejuvenate; we cannot keep working all the time, for we will then enter into the realm of diminshing returns. The more we try to do, the less effective it will be. St. Paul said, "I can do all things in him who strengthens me", but he did not mean that we have to do everything, and then ask God for the strength to survive our self-inflicted over-work. No, he meant that God would give us the strength to do what he wants us to do. After his brief rest by the well, Jesus helped the Samaritan woman "find a life" again. After being awakened in the boat, he calmed the sea and demonstrated the need for confidence, trust and faith in him. Evidently, he didn't preach and heal all the time. He took his needed "times apart" for prayer, and yes for sleep! Perhaps it would help us to see if we could insert a time for rest in our "work, work work" formula: work, rest, work. We would accomplish more in the long run, and "have a life" besides.
Bro. Rene