the cool down

April 18, 2005

last week i began to wonder about what i should be doing this summer. while i had decided that i needed to take it easy this summer, i was unprepared for the onset of all this free time so soon. i got scared. i wasn't familiar with having the time to do anything i wanted, when i wanted. going from crazy, intensely busy to having all the time in the world is a huge contrast. it's unsettling. and it's been a dramatic change for me. human don't deal with change well. we like the comfortable and familiar. in fact, we cling to it. i am no different.

i figured that i needed to pray more about what i should be doing this summer. i made plans like taking vocal lessons, playing more with videography and photography, learning how to do more motion graphics for the church, basically a summer of learning, at my own pace, in my own way. i knew that i needed to rest, but i was a little bit scared in how that would pan out, so i wanted confirmation. i even started considering finding a part time job, but in retrospect, that was probably more to fill out my schedule, so i would have something to do (aka, not relaxing). i've been working hard for four straight years, and not once, have i taken the time to relax. i'll be honest, i don't know how to relax. what i consider relaxing, most people would consider working. some of my friends are great at relaxing. they go on vacations or just unwind after school or work. i don't know how they do it, because if i did similar types of activities, i would feel like i'm "wasting time."

my answer came yet again in the pool. i find it really interesting how God can teach me so much simply by going to the pool. He's opened my eyes to countless analogies, from the steam room, to the sparkling bricks, and now to the cool down. He uses the everyday and makes it come alive to me in so many different ways. i love that. who would think that you could learn so much by going swimming in the mornings? that's creativity right there. and what's really amazing is that God teaches me through images/visuals/experience, things that i really understand. it's specific to me. that's how personal our God is. how unfathomable is it that a God who created the one billion galaxies in the universe could be so close to us and care about us so much; a God who would come speak to us in the ways we understand best? it boggles my mind.

the answer to me that morning was simple. when i was cooling down after the swim, it suddenly hit me. every time i swim, i make sure i stretch before AND after so i don't pull any muscles. pre and post swim stretching takes 10 minutes. i swim for 30 minutes. proportionally speaking, that's a 1:3 ratio, stretching (warm up and cool down) to swimming. more specifically, the cool down to stretching ratio would be 1:6 (five minutes to 30 minutes). if i took so much care in warming up and cooling down for the swim, shouldn't i be doing the same for the rest of my life? i know that i'm fabulous at working hard, but i'm terrible at resting.

i've been working nonstop for four years now. ever since i was accepted into the design, i have not rested. i took summer school for the first two years, i worked for the past three years, did a missions trip last summer. my summer schedules were as busy, if not more than my school year. this summer was my time to cool down, plain and simple. let's translate those terms into what i'm really getting at. the cool down equates to rest and swimming equates to work. resulting in what i call the rest to work ratio (1:6). let's apply that ratio to my life. four years is 48 months. that means, i should be resting for eight months. there's four months from now until i start school at tyndale in september. taking these four months to relax and take it easy doesn't seem so crazy after all. the challenge lies in fighting off the mentality of always having to do something in order to be productive/useful.

work must always be balanced with rest. workaholics are prone to many dangers, including: burning out, loss of vision and direction (if you look at only what's in front of you, you'll miss what's ahead), neglecting relationships, and neglecting one's own mental, emotional, spiritual and physiological health. we need to know when to work and when to rest. there is a time and place for everything. and as i enter into the time of resting, i look forward to the times of restoration and renewal.

this is what the LORD says: "Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls" jeremiah 6:16 [NIV]