The Importance of Rest

My wife and I are full-time wedding photographers. We shoot about 30 weddings a year and all those weddings are fit into about 8 months of the year. I like to think of us as squirrels, we work our tails off all spring, summer, and fall and then have a more relaxing work schedule during the winter. This basically means that during the busy season we are working anywhere from 50-70 hours a week and during the slow season we work 40-45 hours a week. It seems like a lot at points, but thankfully we both do it together so it never seems so bad.

I am going to talk about Mark Chapter 2, specifically where it talks about Sabbaths.

23 One Sabbath he was going through the grainfields, and as they made their way, his disciples began to pluck heads of grain. 24 And the Pharisees were saying to him, “Look, why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?” 25 And he said to them, “Have you never read what David did, when he was in need and was hungry, he and those who were with him: 26 how he entered the house of God, in the time of[d] Abiathar the high priest, and ate the bread of the Presence, which it is not lawful for any but the priests to eat, and also gave it to those who were with him?” 27 And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”

When we first started working together, we only worked. Any money that came in, we saved and we NEVER rested. After a year of that, we were both grumps so we had to change something. This year we decided to take Sunday’s off, which means no shooting at all. That was challenging at first because everyone wants to do their engagement shoot on the weekends. Turns out, everyone can find time to do their engagement pictures during the week so we were able to have our Sundays.

 

We needed that day of rest because we aren’t meant to go nonstop all of the time. Even God rested. The passage above doesn’t talk about the benefits of taking a Sabbath; it just explains that taking Sabbaths are not law. If each day seems like a whirlwind and you feel like pulling your hair out, I think its safe to say you need some rest. Set some goals for 2018 to always rest on certain days or at certain times. You will see a huge difference in your daily life.

 

Stay warm and have a great Thursday!