A Pennsylvania woman rushing to catch her flight ignored a flat tire and ultimately crashed her car near a moving walkway that leads people into the Pittsburg International Airport. She apparently was so determined to catch her flight that she continued driving toward the airport even after her car got a flat tire on Interstate 376. Allegheny County police say that the woman’s decision to keep driving with the flat — on the rim — eventually damaged the brakes on her Toyota Prius, making it difficult for her to stop once she made it to the airport’s parking lot areas. The crash was so serious that the airbags were deployed. That would qualify as a “bad day”!
What does the pace of your day usually look like?
Sane? Sensible? Sustainable?
Or are you rushing through life at a pace that will inevitably lead to a crash?
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A Sabbath life is countercultural to busy ministries. It will likewise be counterintuitive for a churchaholic, so expect internal pushback when you choose to prioritize self-care in general or Sabbath in particular.
‘Crazy pace’
A couple of weeks ago I learned a popular, new corporate term at a conference I spoke at in Boston: “crazy pace.”
You and I know it when we see it. Would you consider the pace of your life and/or ministry as crazy or unsustainable? Sabbath is more about life management than time management. Sabbath-friendly ministries and families have a sustainable pace, a simple schedule, and clear priorities.
In 2015, 84% of pastors said, “I am on call 24–7.” In 2022, a similar question was asked, and fortunately that number dropped from 84 percent to 71 percent — which is still way too high. This 24–7 dogma creates unbiblical and unrealistic expectations, which sets pastors up for failure. A frantic pace gives us a false sense of purpose as well as a naïve sense of security. Pastors cannot keep their foot on the accelerator and the brake at the same time.
If you have a busy lifestyle, is that a bad thing?
Not everyone’s pace is the same. There are high-energy pastors who love to run hard because they are driven by design. There are also low-energy pastors who may need to pick up their pace to finish the responsibilities they have accepted. The rhythm of your life is as unique as your family is, but is that rhythm and pace biblical and sustainable?
Scripture promotes hard work as well as focused rest. Since work and rest are both gifts from God, why are they so difficult to balance? A healthy life is not the result of balancing work and rest but oscillating between the two. Oscillation is what a pendulum or stationary fan does: It moves or swings back and forth in a rhythmic way. Since life is too unpredictable to balance, we often throw up our hands in frustration and say, “Why bother?”
‘False ideal’
Texas pastor Bruce Miller explains, “Balance is a false ideal that doesn’t guide us toward health but instead diverts us into despair. It puts an impossible burden on us. Ironically, the very concept (balance) that is designed to free us from the frenzy of modern life has subjected us to idealistic notions of a perfectly proportioned life.”
The balancing act is just that — an act. The lives of most successful people are anything but balanced. When driven people run, they want to run hard, which is often both fulfilling and rewarding. When our Lord modeled and implemented a literal 24-hour day of rest, it was not to slow us down but to protect and refuel us for the next week of work.
I would suggest that you abandon the fantasy of a “balanced” life. Instead, embrace the fulfillment of a biblically healthy life of rhythm that pushes us to our limits but not beyond them. Unlike balance, rhythm embraces both work and rest as friends, not competitors.
Professional athletes understand that when their sport is in season, they have to push their minds and bodies to their limits — or lose. But they also understand that to compete long-term and finish well, there must be an offseason. The offseason allows time for their bodies to heal and their relationships to get caught up. In 2011 the NFL owners tried unsuccessfully to expand the season schedule from 16 to 18 games, thus provoking a player strike and lockout. The NFL Players Association fought owners in a standoff for 18 weeks because they knew the price their bodies would pay for those two extra games. Everyone has limits.
In “The Power of Full Engagement,” executive consultants Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz explain the importance of both spending energy (work) and renewing energy (rest). “Chronic stress without recovery and chronic recovery without stress both serve to reduce capacity. In sports, these conditions are referred to as overtraining and undertraining.”
Ambitious pastors tend to over train, over commit, and get overwhelmed. Finding a sustainable rhythm between work and rest and worship may take some time, but it will be well worth the effort.
Go on strike, take a stand, get your life back!
What did Jesus do?
Even Jesus oscillated between stretches of work and rest. Sometimes after pouring Himself all day into people, He would encourage them to stay longer and feed or heal them (Mark 6:37). Other times, however, He would send the crowds home (Matthew 14:23). The same Jesus who prayed all night also slept through a storm (Luke 6:12; Matthew 8:23). His life was a series of sprints and recoveries, spending and renewing, working and resting. He experienced a rhythm of cycles and seasons that were sustainable in his life and ministry.
If your life is too crowded, what can you do to change it?
EDITOR’S NOTE — The following is an excerpt from “Rest Well, Lead Well” by Dr. Mark Dance, releasing June 2 from B&H Publishing. Dance is executive director of the Arkansas Baptists. This story was published by Arkansas Baptist News.
