You know how sometimes you find yourself just dragging through the day? And then the day turns into days and you wish you could just WAKE UP! Well, that’s how I was feeling last week and I decided it was time to put an end to it.
In the past, there have been times when I’ve been really sick and, once I’ve been in bed until I’m too sore to stay there anymore, I get up, drag my body downstairs to our family room, and spend the day watching TV. It’s at those times, when I’m doing nothing productive at all, that I think to myself, “This would be fun, if only I weren’t so sick.” And then I think to myself, “I should take a day off every now and again, and just be a healthy sick person.” But I never do.
Last week, though, I decided it was time to take my day off. The way I figured it, I could either keep plugging along, making myself more and more tired, which would no doubt lead to me being sick–or I could just take a day off and hopefully prevent an illness. Option two seemed like a smarter choice, so that’s what I did.
Last Wednesday, I slept in, ate breakfast, meandered down to the family room, and watched a movie. Then I read a book while taking a nice, hot bath. I did eventually put away a Christmas decoration or two, but overall, the whole day was spent doing nothing . . . and it was perfect!
It was so perfect, in fact, I’m planning to do it again. I don’t know when, but I’ll know when the time is right. And here’s the thing: I recommend you do it, too. I know not everyone has the luxury of just randomly taking a day off from the work of life, but really, try to see if you can make it work. Take a sick day off work. (Wouldn’t you rather use your sick day to prevent an illness than to deal with one?) If you have kids, try calling a friend or you child’s grandmother to see if they could give you a day of respite. Or get your husband to do a “family activity” minus mom for a day while you have your “healthy sick day” (you might have to return the favor).
My point is, there’s no shame in taking a day of rest; and in fact, I think it’s critically important. Even God rested! “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy, because it was the day when he RESTED from all his work of creation” (Genesis 2:3, NLT). I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, I don’t think God rested because he was tired. I mean, seriously, he is God! I think he rested because he knew we’d get tired and he wanted to set an example for us.