God in My Everything: How an Ancient Rhythm Helps Busy People Enjoy God

Daniel centers his life on God and receives the animating presence of the Spirit, who energizes him to live faithfully for God in the world.

Saint Benedict’s rule was designed with “a little strictness in order to amend faults and to safeguard love.” His rule is also famous for its gentleness and flexibility. He insisted that “in drawing up its regulations, we hope to set down nothing harsh, nothing burdensome.”7

The Chinese character for busy combines the pictographs for heart and death, suggesting that busyness kills the heart.

We may also find that a practice once helpful in the past no longer seems fruitful. We might consider dropping the practice or trying something more challenging.

“See to it, brothers and sisters, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called ‘Today,’ so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.”9

Benedict’s perspective can be summarized in the famous dictum, “To pray is to work; to work is to pray.”

On my pilgrimage in Ireland, I was impressed to learn that if a monk was fasting and then received an unexpected visitor, he was to break his fast so he could enjoy food with his guest.

Jesus chose life on the Sabbath: he healed people; he fed them; he supported rescuing animals that fell into wells on the Sabbath. Mark Buchanan, in his book The Rest of God, says that the golden rule for the Sabbath is to cease from what is necessary and to embrace what gives life: Sabbath … is a reprieve from doing what you ought to do, even thou

The truth is that we may be busy because we feel a need to validate our worth. Sabbath gives us a chance to step off the hamster wheel and listen to the voice that tells us we are beloved by God.