A reset day.

There is nothing better for a person than to eat, drink, and enjoy his work.  I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?

Ecclesiastes 2:24-25 (CSB)

I was suffocating – not literally, you understand – but the walls were closing in on me.  My home office was becoming detestable.  All of my relaxing, de-stressing, get-away-from-work techniques were failing me.  You know those days – the ones where you can’t quite give up thinking about work and your mind endlessly spins with to do lists?  There is little enjoyable about those days.

So, I made a plan, grabbed my keys, packed a lunch, and left.  I decided I would go hiking, eat a picnic lunch, and just get away for a few hours.  (Even if social distancing were not in place, this still would have been my reset plan.)  I would get out in nature and enjoy a drive that did not include city streets.  This was my nature reset.

Do you have reset days?  Days where you know you have to do something different because your day-to-day life just isn’t cutting it anymore?  I’ll get so caught up in my day-to-day work that I forget to have fun.  I forget that it’s ok to enjoy myself.  I have to make the effort to switch my perspective and see that this “one wild and precious life” (Mary Oliver) is mine and it’s worth living well.

King Solomon is credited with writing the book of Ecclesiastes, and the entire book is a treatise on the purpose and meaning of life.  I encourage you to take some time to delve into this book, as Solomon struggled just as much with the meaning of life, work, pleasure, and death.  Today, I was drawn to chapter 2 and the section titled “The Emptiness of Work” (2:18-26).  I was surprised at just how applicable Solomon’s description of work was for a teacher living in our modern era.  Evidently, our struggles with the meaning and purpose of life are timeless.   

I have been struggling with finding the joy and meaning in my work lately, but more than that, I have been struggling to connect with God.  It’s been harder to be still and to hear from Him.  The demands of each day, the lack of structure to my days, the frustrations of distance learning, and the current social distancing and stay-at-home orders have all slowly built up walls in my mind.  Now, I’m stuck in the middle of this maze of concerns and struggling to find my way out. 

Thankfully, I am not the only who struggles with this.  Solomon writes, “I have seen that even this is from God’s hand, because who can eat and who can enjoy life apart from him?” (Ecc. 2:24b-25).  Enjoying my work, enduring the momentary concerns, and living my life to the full cannot happen apart from God.  I had allowed the concerns and issues I am currently facing to interfere with my relationship God.  They kept me from hearing His voice and finding joy in His presence.

Thus, my reset day.  I did nothing extravagant, but it was absolutely essential.  I reclaimed my joy and my peace.  I thanked God for this life He’s given me – a life that would be drudgery without Him.  

Sometimes, it’s absolutely essential to take the time to pause and reset.  Call it a reset day or a white space day or a Sabbath.  Call it what you will you, but go out and do it.  Perhaps hiking and a picnic are not your cup of tea, that’s fine.  Do what works for you, but then return and find yourself appreciating the small, normal moments again.

Realize God was with you all along, but now, just maybe, you can see His presence a little clearer and hear His voice a little louder.