Day Twelve-Exodus 20:10

"But the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day, no one in your household may do any work...." Exodus 20:10

Did you know that in 1910 the average American slept nine hours a night? In 2000, the average was seven, and in 2010 the average was again down to 5.5-6.5 hours a night! Most of us, quite frankly feel rested if we're fortunate enough to get 6! I know my husband is! Unfortunately, the seemingly unending list of side effects associated with lack of rest is alarming. (My husband's number one clue? A migraine! A huge price to pay for a few hours over the course of several weeks.)
Thanks to Max Lucado, (Traveling Light, 2000) I took a deeper look into the 10 commandments this morning to find this: God felt so strongly about the importance of rest and rejuvenation that when giving us the commandments went to great lengths to describe what we should do on the Sabbath (rest!) and who is permitted to work (no one!) Not mothers, fathers, daughters, sons, slaves, animals! Absolutely no one! Yet in other commandments he offered four or five short statements; "Thou shalt not murder, steal, commit adultery." Funny how we seem to put waaaaay more stock into these (which by the way I am thankful for those who do abide by these :) "I can get by," I say, "I'll rest up this weekend," "We're going on vacation, next month, I will rest then." The problem is, often times our weekends and vacations are just as busy as our work week, if not busier! Experts are now saying that our actions are proving fatal. More than 70 million Americans aren't sleeping enough, therefore, one third of our population is dozing off at work, napping in classs and falling asleep at the wheel. Nearly 2000 traffic deaths per year are attributed to drivers falling asleep while driving. Although, by far the most traumatic, that is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of repercussions. We now know that a lack of sleep inhibits our cognitive abilities, i.e. ability to make timely and appropriate decisions, impacts our productivity at work, decreases patience and has a negative impact on our ability to lose weight! Yes! It negatively affects weight loss efforts too! Think about it like this: I wake up tired. Too tired to fix a healthy breakfast (although that can be done in five minutes: 1 scrambled egg, 1 piece of whole grain toast with 1 tbsp. peanut butter all around 200 calories!) instead, I opt for a muffin and cappachino from UDF (quickly adding up to 500 or more calories.) I get a jolt from the sugar in my breakfast, crashing around 10am, look for a pick-me-up in the vending machine (M&M's 290 calories and a Mtn Dew 15o calories) For lunch, another quick meal, because I'm behind at work due to difficulty focusing and yawning this morning. Someone's heading to McDonalds; I'm too tired to think about what I want, decide on the Big Mac value meal and depending on what I choose to drink could top out at 800 calories or more! The day goes on and I find my pick-me-ups in vending machine snacks and order pizza for dinner because, of course I am too tired to cook. Once I do my calculations, I could end the day having consumed more that 2500 calories when I was trying to stay around 1600! Oh, and did I mention that I didn't work out because I was too tired!
God knew the importance of rest, He rested! Our life-long journey to enhancing our own lives and living closer to God requires us to follow Him, and do what He instructs us to do. How can we possibly think that we do not NEED adequate rest?
I pray you find ways to get the rest you need and that God requires of you this week! And just incase you are balking at the idea because of your busy schedule, a quote from Charles Spurgeon, "In the long run, we shall do more, sometimes, by doing less."
Thanks for reading,
In Him,
Julie