How Tired Are You? (Daily Encouragement)
It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. – Psalm 127:2
During this season, the question isn’t “are you tired” but “how tired are you”. I am not talking about just a lack of sleep tired, I am talking about a physical, emotional, relational, spiritual tiredness that comes from a year of challenges, disappointment, frustration, and tension in many areas of life. On Sunday we talked about working out of a position of acceptance verses working for acceptance. This chart and explanation (from my mentor Chan Kilgore’s document on Sabbath Rhythms) helps identify where you are on a scale of 1 to 10 in regards to your “emotional barrel”. It also shows importance of getting consistent rest in order to operate out of your highest levels of production and ability to love others.
One of the great myths we all fight is that if we take frequent time off we will be less productive. The opposite could not be more true. We all have limited physical, emotional and spiritual capacity. One a scale of 1 to 10, we are most productive when we are operating from the overflow of our emotional barrel rather than from the bottom of the barrel. We are most productive between 6 and 10 and less productive between 1 and 4.
Typically we let ourselves drain out to a 2 or 3 (or worse) and then take a day off or a vacation. The problem is that typically a day or even a week off can only renew you up 2 or 3 points. So if you wait to rest at a 1 or 2, a day off only gets you up to a 3 or 4. You are still operating at your lowest productivity and creativity levels. They key is to rest at a 5 so that you can recover and operate at a 7-8 or higher. Resting in your gospel identity will empower you to establish Sabbath rhythms in your life that prevent you from draining out below a 5. The result is that you will operate most often at your highest levels of productivity and have the ability to love each other out of the abundance of the heart.
The best way to gage wether you are working from a position of rest is to ask “What is my relational capacity?” Am I often frustrated, impatient, anxious or angry? If so you are operating below a 5. When I am working from a position of rest I find myself filled with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. When I am working in pursuit of acceptance I found just the opposite takes place in my soul. The gospel reminds us that Jesus is enough, more than enough, so rest.
It is helpful to identify where we are emotionally. Be reminded that Jesus is enough. Begin taking healthy steps to recover and establish rhythms in life that prevent us from draining our emotional barrel and operate out of health (more on that tomorrow)!