“Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.”

Sounds nice, but how do we find rest in a world that is so broken? There is so much to do, so many problems to fix. There are miles of stream bank to restore, forest to be replanted, and so many species are endangered and need protection.

And we have become slaves to technology. Our smart phones allow us to be connected and feel busy 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, raising funds, restoring the world, being productive and in control. Isn’t this all good?

And yet God calls us to Sabbath. He calls us to restraint, intentionally not doing everything all the time. We are not called to save the world. Instead, we are called to rest, to reconnect with our Creator and find the peace. The Sabbath is about letting go of thinking that we’re in charge for one day a week and letting God be God. How do we as environmentalists do it? Why do we do it when there is so much work to be done?

In his book, 24/6 – A Prescription for a Healthier, Happier Life, Dr. Matthew Sleeth, a former emergency room surgeon, shows us how our hectic lives, our desire to fix everything and be everywhere is harming us deeply. He points out that we are not in control. God is in control. We don’t need to fix everything. Jesus is and will restore all things.

Sleeth and his own family saw a transformation in their own lives when they adopted Sabbath practices. He encourages readers to see their own lives transformed by adopting the same lifestyle. By focusing on the Sabbath and its impact on our emotional and physical health, he lays out a simple plan for living a better life – that life that brings glory to God because we acknowledge that he is in control. We don’t need to do everything. Every problem does not call us to work to solve it. We can rest and enjoy God’s creation because he did.

I’m very thankful for this book and recommend it to all those working to care for God’s creation. For environmentalists, it’s so important to remember that we are not working to solve the world’s problems. We can’t. The world’s biggest problem is us. Only God can fix us. May Sabbath rest remind us that this is true!