Key Bible Verse: "Work for six days, and rest on the seventh. This will … allow the people of your household … to be refreshed" (Exodus 23:12). Bonus Reading: Exodus 31:12-17

Most of us can't stop until we've finished whatever it is we think we need to do. When I was a college and seminary student, I had too much homework to stop for one 24-hour period. When I taught high school English, I had too many papers to grade. When I was learning Spanish in Costa Rica, I could not stop if I was going to learn the language. If I was going to respond to the needs of the people in our church and still have time to pray and study, I needed to work at least half of my Sabbath, didn't I?

A wagon train of Christians was traveling from St. Louis to Oregon. They observed the Sabbath during the autumn, but as winter approached, fear that they wouldn't reach their destination before the snows gripped some. They proposed that they travel seven days a week. The argument in the community was settled by dividing the wagon train into two groups. One group would stop on the Sabbath day as before. The other would press on.

So, which group arrived in Oregon first? The ones who kept the Sabbath! Both the people and their horses were so rested that they could travel much more efficiently the other six days.

—Pete Scazzaro in Emotionally Healthy Spirituality

My Response: How can I submit my goals to God and accept my limits?

Thought to Apply: There is more to life than increasing its speed.—Mohandas Gandhi (Indian nationalist & mystic)

Adapted from Emotionally Healthy Spirituality (Integrity, 2006) by permission.

Prayer for the Week

Help me, Lord, to rediscover the rhythm that You built into Your universe for our benefit.

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