10.2.2026 - Karla Whitman

Friday October 2

Work and rest are two sides of the same coin. 

I read “Every Good Endeavor” by Tim Keller my freshman year at CBU, which explores Biblical work. One of the things that he mentioned in this book is that rest is as important as work. 

God tells us to observe the Sabbath, putting aside time to honor Him and to take a period of rest for ourselves (Genesis 2:2–3, Exodus 20: 8-11). By putting aside time to connect with the Lord and rest, we are better equipped to do what He has called us to. As a tree lies dormant over the winter seasons to better produce fruit in the spring, we too need rest to produce better work. 

The first and last time I pulled an all-nighter was during the Covid Era. I wanted very badly to retake a test for my math class. As everything was completely digital, I had to get 100% on every homework assignment for that unit in order to retake that test. Most of them were possible, but one section kept on stumping me. No matter how many attempts I did, I could not get 100%. As the sun came up, I’d realized I had lost my chance to retake the test. 

The teacher during class that day asked me to stay behind. She told me a few things. She would reopen the test for me on the condition that I never pulled an all-nighter for that class again. She told me that my productivity levels and grades had dropped drastically once I had hit 11 pm. 

While tired, my work was no longer quality and my brain wasn’t computing up to speed. 

Burn out is a real thing! At a certain point, we all hit 11 pm. Once we are too exhausted, our work is no longer quality. 

Not only is rest important for our well-being, it is also a space in which God wishes to connect with us. There is a reason that He makes it a law to observe the Sabbath day and rest. Sometimes, it is work to make time to rest. Our schedules stay busy and tend to only get busier and busier. It is so easy to fill the calendar and not so easy to carve out the very important time we need to rest. But, once again, rest is Biblical! We need that time to sit and dwell on the goodness of our God. 

Try to set aside fifteen to twenty minutes of quiet time in your day, and rest.