IDOLIZING
EXHAUSTION

Topics: Balance; Family; Rest; Sabbath; Work

References: Exodus 23:12; 31:12–17

I do not mean to make an idol of health, but it seems to me that at least some of us have made an idol of exhaustion. The only time we know we have done enough is when we are running on empty and when the ones we love most are the ones we see the least.

When we lie down to sleep at night, we offer our full appointment calendars to God in lieu of prayer, believing that God—who is as busy as we are—will surely understand.

—Barbara Brown Taylor, “Divine Subtraction,” Christian Century (November 3, 1999)