Believing the older man lacked stamina and youth, he sat down, fully confident he would win. Meanwhile the older man, who had taken a ten-minute break each hour, ended his day by chopping down forty trees. In shock the younger man asked, “How is this possible, old man? I didn’t stop. You stopped every hour for ten minutes and yet you chopped down almost twice as many trees as I did.”
The older man replied, “Every hour I sat down for ten minutes and did two things. First, I took time to rest and recharge my batteries. Second, I took time to sharpen my axe. Yes, you were working hard but you were working with a dull axe.”
There’s an important lesson here for you. In order to succeed at what God has called you to do in life, you must always do these two things: (1) Make time for rest and renewal. You cannot always be giving out; you must also stop and take in. That’s where prayer and Bible reading come in; they restore what life depletes. (2) Stay sharp. When your axe is dull it requires more energy and produces fewer results. So take time to rest and sharpen.
Mark 6:31
“Come with me…to a quiet place and get some rest.”
- http://www.jentezenfranklin.org/take-time-to-rest-and-sharpen/ -