Sentinel Watch September 26, 2011 Issue

Overworked? take a ‘timeout’ with God

Melanie Ball

“I feel like a rat in a maze!” “I wish I could just get off of this treadmill and take a break!” “If only I could come up for air!”

Familiar comments for many workers. People are working longer hours, taking fewer vacation days, and finding it more difficult to “unplug” than they have in decades past. In a study published several years ago, 1/3 of American workers reported feeling chronically overworked (see “Overwork in America: when the way we work becomes too much,” Families and Work Institute), and the issue certainly isn’t limited to the United States.

It is possible for each worker to find balance and right direction, to step off the treadmill of life’s incessant demands, and take a deep breath by scheduling a “timeout” with God. Christ Jesus did it. He pulled “all-nighters” praying, and then came down from the mountain ready to heal multitudes! What did Jesus, who had the most productive life of anyone who has ever walked this planet, know that enabled him to teach, heal, and pray 24/7? For one, he kept his thought in total alignment with God and thus didn’t identify himself or others—as a sinner, an invalid, or hopeless. And, perhaps above all, Jesus knew who he was: the Son of God.