Proverbs 23:4 states, "Do not wear yourself out to get rich; have the wisdom to show restraint." 

Early in my career, I tended to be a workaholic.  I was always chasing the next promotion, pay raise, etc., in an attempt to earn more money and provide for my family.  In addition, I would volunteer for almost everything going on at church and would enroll my kids in as many things as I could.  Eventually, every waking moment was occupied with some sort of activity that involved taking care of somebody else's needs.

However, after doing this for several years, I found that I wasn't satisfied with where I had ended up and was very tired.  Not only was I physically exhausted from the activity, but I had also neglected my health along the way and had gained a great deal of weight.

This year, my family decided that we needed some time for ourselves and that we would keep Sundays reserved for family time and rest (after going to church, of course).

We found that there was a reason that God commanded rest in Exodus 20:8-11, "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

If God needed to rest on the 7th day, why do we try to push ourselves to the brink of collapse?  If anyone could go nonstop, it would certainly be God, but even He took the the time to rest and recover.

In our society today, we tend to wear our busyness as a badge of honor.  Whoever runs their kids to the most extracurricular activities and works the hardest to buy the most toys for their children is revered as the best parent.  Companies use incentive pay structures to reward those who have unhealthy work-life balances. 

However, if we stay on this treadmill and never stop to catch our breath, then we don't have ample time to recover and prepare ourselves adequately for the next challenge.  Also, too much busyness can keep us from using our talents to fulfill our God-given purpose.  If we're busy, then we must be doing something important, right? 

In their book, The Power of Full Engagement: Managing Energy, Not Time, is the Key to High Performance and Personal Renewal, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz explain how intermittent periods of full engagement, following by periods of disengagement, are critical for high-level performance over time.  To illustrate, they show how sprinters will run as fast as they can for a spell and then intentionally rest to recover their energy.  If these sprinters did not take the time to rest, they would not be able to run as fast the next time around, and their performance would be diminished.

Our family has seen numerous benefits from taking an intentional day of rest each week.  We have been generally more healthy than we were in the previous year.  Our relationships with one another are better.  Most importantly, our overall happiness has improved significantly.  Therefore, I highly recommend taking a day of Sabbath and making it a priority.