How To Have Down-Time Without the Guilt

Kenneth Moyle via Compfight

We were invited out to some new friends today. It was a lovely time, but after exerting the emotional energy of getting to know someone over hours of chatting, I was pretty exhausted.

Upon approaching our driveway, I announced to the children that it was DVD time. They squealed with excitement, and I may have even heard some compliments thrown in that sounded something like, “You are the best mommy in the world, Mom!” (What can I say! My children have good taste :-))

So off they went. It’s been a good hour and I haven’t heard a peep out of them. Bliss!

I sprawled on my bed, read a couple of Psalms from the Bible, opened my laptop, spent a while answering emails, and being encouraged by blog posts of precious Godly women that I follow. For me, this is ‘down-time.’

Then the thought occurred to me, how much is too much when it comes to ‘down-time’?

How do you know when the line has been crossed and you are officially into ‘lazy-time’?

Proverbs 21:25 explains:

 The desire of the sluggard kills him,

for his hands refuse to labor.

In direct juxtaposition to the sluggard, I know full well that my hands do not “refuse to labour.” In fact, my hands labour pretty much continually all day long. As do my feet. As does my brain. And as to my detriment, does my mouth! 🙂

If this is the case with you too, you can feel quite justified to have a certain amount of down-time when you examine the dictionary definition for the phrase:

 A time during aregular working period when an employee is not

actively productive.

Okay then… so even if you have not been ‘actively productive’ for the past hour, this has been occurring within the scope of the big picture; a time of unproductivity during regular working.

So, how much is too much?

By the dictionary’s definition, you are still within your safe and permissible boundaries when you keep to a limited time within the context of your regular work, which may be:

Husband-helping

Child-rearing

Home-caring

Online blogging

And everything in between and beyond, that God has called you to do.

As long as your down-time does not interfere with or take away from the heart or flow of your homely ministry, some down-time is certainly permissible, and even beneficial.

Look at it as maintenance.

Charles Spurgeon once said, “The bow cannot be always bent without fear of breaking. Repose is as needful to the mind as sleep to the body… Rest time is not waste time. It is economy to gather fresh strength.” (worthy of a tweet).

God certainly exemplified beautifully and wisely that rest is good in Genesis 2:2.

Here are some suggestions to enjoy times of rest and not get carried away in a sluggardly (don’t think that’s a word!) manner:

1. Set a time frame for your down-time, ie. 30 minutes or whatever. Then diligently continuing with your ‘regular work’ thereafter.
2. Decide beforehand specifically what you will do in your down-time and end as soon as you have accomplished that task:

• Read a chapter in a Godly book
• Answer five emails
• Knit 20 rows
• Sit on the porch until you finish drinking your tea

Whatever suits your fancy and glorifies the Lord by time well spent…

Staying disciplined and focused during these much-needed times of refreshment creates guilt-free times of maintenance and restoration.

I am honoured that you chose to read this blog post during your down-time :-).

What do you find restful and encouraging to do during your ‘down-times’?

I would love it if you shared this post…