At 22 years old, I am a workaholic. I’ve known it for years and still, it persists in my life. During my last semester at school, I held down two part-time jobs while taking 17 hours of classes, working on both the school newspaper and magazine, participating in two musical ensembles, and writing my 75-page honors thesis. I was doing too much. I knew it, but it was like a rushing locomotive that I could not stop – it would have to run until it either got to a station or exploded. And an explosion was not what I had in mind to finish my college career.

Fortunately, I held it all together until the bitter end and made it across the stage to accept my diploma. And I made a choice for myself. My train had finally reached a station and it was time to get out and stretch my legs. There are not many such stations in life.

In elementary and middle school, summer is a time for swimming, camps, and rejoicing in freedom from school. I thoroughly enjoyed that time. Then I boarded an express train and missed several stops. High school summers can be a restful time, filled with trips to the beach, the lake, and friends’ houses. Mine were full of summer jobs and school reading. Many see the time between high school and college as a breather between school experiences; I saw it as a great opportunity to work 40 hours a week. One college summer was spent primarily at work and two more studying in Japan. Which brings me to this year – after college, but before a steady job.

For the first time in a long while, I had a time without homework, which had become the bane of my existence. I was thrilled with the opportunity to have my nights free. Why, I could watch a movie! Or visit my friends! Or just sit out on the porch and read a good book. The possibilities were endless. And I needed it. My express train needed some maintenance.

I think God designates times in our lives when we must rest. “Be still before the LORD and wait patiently for him; do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes” Psalm 37:7 says. Was my rush and busyness really a way of saying, “I don’t trust you Lord; I’d rather try to take care of things myself”? In my going and doing, I never truly listened to what God was saying to me. I would pray to Him, sure, give Him praise, thanks, and rattle off a list of requests, then go along my merry way without ever pausing to hear what He had to say about my life. I didn’t hear God’s messages for me to time out, take a break.

It’s hard to carry on a relationship with someone when only one of them does the talking. I don’t think that it’s much different in our relationship with the Lord.

We should take that much-deserved time off to renew our relationship with God. There are amazing things the Lord wants to say to us if we would only take the time to listen.

The Bible states that God is a jealous God. The Lord does not want to compete for our time. God waits for us to come to Him. He lets us go charging off into what we think will be best, knowing that eventually we will come back, ready to admit that He knows best. And when we do, what wonderful things wait for us. Better than movies or nights with friends or reading on a hot summer evening. Better than we can imagine.

However, I’m not yet at that wonderful place where I can be still in the Lord and listen to Him. I still work 45 hours a week and involve myself in far too much. But I now know at least part of the joys that can be found in that quiet conversation with the Lord. It is in this stillness that He teaches me best. I don’t need to hurry along all the time. My train has finally come to a station and it’s time to get out for a bit and take in the scenery.

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