There are certain devices in our lives we expect to run without ever shutting down. Refrigerators. Water heaters. Sump-pumps. If these devices ever shut down, food spoils, showers are cold, and basements flood. But we who are created in our Creator’s image are not cogs and widgets. We’re flesh and blood. We bear the mark of our Maker. 

Just past the city limits of the town where I live is a section of land dedicated to river overflow. To someone just passing through, the vast area looks like wasted space.

Nothing of redeemable value grows there. No one lives there. The overflow is an area of trees and grassland designed to catch the nearby river when it stretches out of its banks during the spring and fall floods.

The overflow is a dedicated space to capture what cannot be contained in the typical margin of the river banks.

Just like the river, you and I need to create a dedicated overflow space in our lives. Space for when our lives are flooded—and as pastors they often are. We will drown if we haven’t designated some space to breathe.

You need to create overflow space for rest in your life for three reasons.

You Are Mortal, Not Mechanical

There are certain devices in our lives we expect to run without ever shutting down. Refrigerators. Water heaters. Sump-pumps. If these devices ever shut down, food spoils, showers are cold, and basements flood.

But we who are created in our Creator’s image are not cogs and widgets. We’re flesh and blood. We bear the mark of our Maker. We carry the breath of our Designer in our chests.

We need time to rest. Designing overflow space to rest and relax is a declaration that we are so much more than what we do or create.

You Will Have Unexpected Interruptions

A lot of life happens between start and end. No matter how well you plan your week and schedule your time, there will be matters in your day you never saw coming.

My wife and I needed to make a doctor’s appointment for one of our children. We expected to have made the appointment a month to two out from the day we called to schedule the appointment. When we called at one morning at 8:15, we were shocked they asked if we could come at 10:30 a.m. that day.

We said yes!

But there were two problems. One, the doctor’s office was a two-hour drive away, and two, the car’s fuel gauge was on empty. Immediately, everything scheduled for that day was tossed.

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