daily devotional

Get Out of the Rut

Read Proverbs 17:22

Even though our workweek is decreasing and our weekend time is increasing, our country lacks inner peace. External leisure does not guarantee internal rest, does it? Time on our hands, we have. But we don't have meaningful "rest" in the biblical sense of the term. 

The answer is [to make] a radical break with the rut of normal living. My late friend Tim Hansel suggested taking different kinds of vacations: midget vacations or mini-vacations (two minutes or more!). 

Change your routine, my friend. Blow the dust of boredom off your schedule. Shake yourself loose and get a taste of fresh life. 

Here are several suggestions for adding "zip" to your leisure:

  • Begin jogging and/or an exercise program
  • Buy a bicycle and start pedalling
  • Enrol in a local art class
  • Take up a new hobby
  • Dig around in the soil...plant a small garden

Excerpted from Charles R. Swindoll, Wisdom for the Way (Nashville: J. Countryman, a division of Thomas Nelson, Inc., 2001). Copyright © 2001 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.