Take Rest

I started my career in 2000. In those days, you leave work when you leave office. Laptops were reserved for the management team and developers had to work on computers with bulky monitors and CPU units. Work from home was not an option. Even if it had been, we had to hire movers and packers just to take our computer home. Mobile phones were not prevalent – they were bulky, had actual physical keys and you had to pay for incoming calls. The point is that you left work at the office – even if you left office late because of work. Once you are out of the building, you are out of your work clothes. Work did not follow us in a back pack or a small device with a touch screen.

We still found it tough to go on vacations. We were humble developers in an organization which had thousands of the same breed. But we felt important and a feeling that the organization and it’s customers will come to a standstill if we log off for a long time. The mind was always switched on to work.

Technological advances and the era of connectivity has made the situation worse. Enough has been said and written and preached about it. I believe that out of office replies were invented so that people feel bad as they go about setting it.

We work hard so that we can rest later. But “later” never comes till one enters eternal bodily rest. Needless to say, it is just good to switch off from work and get some rest. Everything will work just as fine without you. The organization will continue to exist. Customers will continue to complain. Old issues will get resolved and new issues will come into existence. As they say “life will go on”. To think that you have to carry the burden of the organization or the nation’s economy or the future of the Earth on your mighty shoulders without taking rest is a myth. And it is a myth which exists in every person’s mind. Take time off. Chill and take rest. You will find that some of the issues which were troubling your mind will no longer exist when you switch back on. If your mind is in the right place, you will achieve more in your sleep than in your waking hours.

And the right place is the feet of God. Place all your burdens on His feet and take some rest. Being awake and anxious is not going to help beyond a certain point. The God who gives rest will fix everything while you are sleeping.

“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep” – Psalm 127:2