Day 342: Keeping a sabbath

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I had intended to work today, which is Sunday, but I sat down and was about to pray my Surrender statement, and felt God’s conviction not to work today. Even though logically I could probably finish the book today or tomorrow and I could just take my sabbath rest day right after that, I felt God telling me that I should rest today. Not because it's logical, not to be legalistic about my sabbath, but because it’s a gesture that puts God first in my life. I suddenly feel like that is more important than getting the book done. So, to my editor and the authors in the multi-author box set, sorry, the book will be a day later.

I admit I am also influenced by the Deep Work audiobook I’m listening to. I just finished the chapter talking about how the subconscious mind needs time to process all the information we’ve inputted in order to make decisions. It's like the subconscious is a big supercomputer and you input your data and then wait for it to compute the answer for you. All supercomputers need time to work since there’s so much data or the calculations being analyzed are really complex. So people need down time to allow their subconscious to work.

I don’t have a complex calculation to be analyzed, but I did notice that the time walking the other day enabled me to feel refreshed enough to tackle another long work session of concentration and focus. So a complete rest day might enable me to work even better tomorrow. After all, my main goal here is to practice long periods of intense concentration and focus so that I can work more efficiently, and maybe even put out better work. And in order to practice, I need to also be rested enough to be able to give each writing session my all in terms of mental energy.

So I think I will not do any work today, although I admit I am tempted to work a little on my fantasy serial novel, because it’s fun. I have a hard time thinking of it as work because I’m just playing around right now. I even came up with the hero’s spiritual conflict while listening to our church’s streaming service this morning. But first I’ll go for a walk and relax a bit, maybe watch some Netflix or read a book.

So if you’re reading this on Sunday, I hope you have a relaxing day.

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