I know that this isn’t necessarily a news flash, but it seems that, now more than ever, society finds itself on a treadmill that increases in speed each and every day.  We work longer hours in more stressful environments in hopes of reaching a golden ring that always seems to be just out of reach of our grasp.

I tend to be a workaholic.  My feet typically hit the floor at around 5:30 a.m. each weekday morning and shuffle off to my home office. Why so early?  I couldn’t squeeze any more in a day unless I got up earlier.  I have reading and writing to do and then my phone starts to ring and e-mails start piling in, all demanding my immediate attention.  My wife often has to remind me to come out for lunch and, before I know it, it’s after 5pm. 

Then it’s dinner time and off for an evening of errands, shopping and other things that get us out of the house.  Of course, my smartphone is constantly on my dumb butt, buzzing constantly with e-mails, text messages and phone calls. Vacations are never really vacations anymore but are merely those days that you have an excuse not to immediately answer a call or e-mail . . . but you typically do.  Heck, I’ve occasionally worked on problems in my sleep and woke up with an answer to the problem. How insane is that?

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not complaining. It the nature of my world and the world of many of you and, having found myself unemployed a couple of times in my life, I know that the alternative is not very palatable to me.  The feeling of being a mouse on wheel is a very real one to all of us, whether we are career people or housewives or househusbands.  Life is just too fast sometimes.

I have a couple cousins who are ministers in two or three different denominations.  One of my aunts used to send me tapes (and, later, CD’s) of one of my cousins sermons whenever he preached.  Over ten years ago, I was struck by something he said in one of those sermons.  He said, “Sometimes, the most spiritual thing we can do is rest.”

Think about that for a moment or two. 

I know that I’m not the brightest crayon in the box. In fact, I believe that my “crayon” is severely cracked if not actually broken.  Be that as it may, it’s obvious to even a bonehead like me that the human race is wired for regular, routine, frequent rest. Most, if not all, major religions have as part of their beliefs a regular, weekly day of rest.

Having been born in the deep-south and spending most of my first nine years there, I remember when the majority of stores and businesses would close on Sundays.  Of course, restaurants were always open but that, somehow, seemed okay to me.  Today, we get upset when a grocery store closes at midnight.

I know that these days and times are burdening many people with almost unbearable financial weights.  Many are unemployed.  Still others are under-employed and having to work second and even third jobs with just the slightest hope of making ends meet. And, as just stated, many of us are work night and day to meet the demands of our careers.

I know that it’s next to impossible to find the time to come up for air let alone have a day of rest.  Take what you can get.  Maybe for 15 minutes every day you can just go to a quiet area where you work or live and just clear your head, pray or just stare off into space - anything to have some alone time away from your stressful environment. 

If you can, take some time and rest – really rest.

Sometimes, that’s the most spiritual thing any of us can do.