Today is Christmas. I normally work every day of the week, only except for the Sabbath Day (Sunday). Although today is Monday, I decided to abstain from my professional work and just spend time with my family to celebrate this holy-day.
How important it is for us, human beings, to have timeout from time to time. Timeout helps us renew our energy, reconsider our priorities, adjust our course of action, reflect on our path, repent and renew the covenant with God. As a Latter-Day Saint, I honor the Sabbath Day and do my best to keep it holy. Each Sunday becomes a checkpoint for me – a time to record my spiritual and temporal welfare. My professional life is very demanding of my time. With the ability to work remotely, I feel constantly plugged-in. Working in such a manner could easily become an obsession. Obsession, if going untreated, could become an addiction – a mental bond that is extremely hard to break. God, who created all things including our physically bodies and spirits, knows exactly how our bodies work. He sets an example of resting on the seventh day. We likewise need to rest periodically from our labor. In fact, it is one of the Ten Commandments: “Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8). Dr. John Tanner at BYU wrote a very interesting article about Labor and Rest. I invite you to check it out.
Sometimes, for various reasons, we may need to rest for longer than a day. I have many hobbies (including reading online books from libraries) each of which is not evil in its own right but is chipping a bit from the precious time I should have spent with my family. For a misbehaving child, a timeout is not only a punishment but also a help for him/her to discontinue their bad behavior. Several days of abstaining from those hobbies have been crucial to help me change the way I use my time.
In this Christmas season, I am so grateful for the Savior, His humble birth, His exemplary life, and His all-encompassing atonement which makes second chances possible to all mankind. No matter how busy and hectic our lives are, we can always find peace in Him.