Can you work overtime this week? Sure!

Can you lead this new Bible study? Yes!

Can you help coach this team? Come to this party? Attend this important meeting? Of course!

Saying yes was a default setting of mine for years. No wasn’t an option.

There were many reasons why – I wanted to be helpful; I wanted to be seen as dependable and reliable; I felt that, if the shoe was on the other foot, I would appreciate the same measure of kindness and courtesy.

And, while all of those things were good, my inability to say no was sucking the life out of me and slowly chipping away at my joy, peace, and sanity.

I spent years sacrificing God’s best for me on the altar of good. Living life at breakneck speed left me spiritually dry, emotionally drained, physically exhausted, and mentally depleted.

Interestingly enough, the one Man who could have justified a life of continual busyness didn’t. Jesus’s life was one of healthy rhythms that incorporated boundaries and intentional margin.

He understood Sabbath (a day to stop, rest, delight, and contemplate) and purposefully looked to have quiet moments alone with His Father to connect, reflect, process, and talk things through so that He would be at His best when engaged with the people around Him.

Repeatedly we see Him slipping away from the crowds to recharge (Mark 6:30-32) or simply carving out time to focus on prayer (Luke 5:16).

It’s an idea that is counter-cultural to our current fast-paced, I’ll-rest-when-I-die mentality and it’s absolutely counterintuitive to most everything we’ve been conditioned to believe in our workaholic society.

For most of us, the Lord has to bring us to a place where we realize that to be human is to have limits (many times, that’s simply our body giving out in some way because we haven’t given it the needed space to rest, destress, and recover from the wear and tear of daily life).

Author Ruth Haley Barton says it beautifully, “God is the one who is infinite; I, on the other hand, must learn to live within the physical limits of time and space and the human limits of my own strength and energy. There are limits to my relational, emotional, mental, and spiritual capacities.

I am not God. God is the only one who can be all things to all people. God is the only one who can be two places at once. God is the one who never sleeps. I am not. We can’t remind ourselves of this enough.” (Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership)

Learning to say no – even to things that may be good – is critical to our maturing in faith.

Being obedient to follow in the footsteps of our Savior and incorporate spaces of solitude, quiet, and rest will have us elevating His best for us (and we’ll be happier and healthier, as a result)!

Until next time, Grace and Glory!