Sunday. This is a great time to worship the Lord by honouring the Sabbath. This means that we have six days to work and a day to spend with the Lord in church, with our family at home or outdoors (after church)  and with ourselves as we surrender to a great day of rest – all in a Sunday. Your rest day does not need to be always on a weekend. Just make sure you give your body that much needed rest.

Monday. This is usually an extremely busy day because after the weekends, work must have piled up and there seems to be a lot of reasons to panic and sprint. All the excitement is here but you can be thankful if you have rested well yesterday. That means you have all the energy you need to finish the day with a smile despite hustle and bustle of the day.

Tuesday. The left-over from Monday can be done this exciting next day and fuss should now be starting to fade. Still exciting in the sense that Tuesday promises greater time to plan again for the weekend. Today is a great day to meet up with business colleagues, infuse extra tasks apart from the routine, join a prayer meeting or a fellowship, and prepare again for tomorrow’s new and unexpected events to tackle for the week.

Wednesday. This is a day which is a little less stressful already. You can start working on new job challenges, family issues, continue planning and have some extra fun. You can be creative in making this day exciting. Just have a consistent right attitude.

Thursday. This day can become less exciting as many job orders or stressful tasks will begin to come in to avoid being a candidate for “due next week” if Friday or Saturday will not be enough to finish off everything that arrived for the week. Nevertheless, if you already have a working system of completing every task due for this week, this day is so much fun.

Friday. This is like a Monday. It can very well be very busy because the weekends are approaching. You may already have planned a wonderful weekend ahead but if some works need to be finished, then, this is a day that becomes a lot more stressful. But cheer up, you can work overtime on a Saturday. Exciting? That really depends on you.

Saturday. This is usually spent on household chores, family, friends and preparation for a Sunday – a time that should be well-spent with the Lord.

Whatever you subject your mind or body to do, that’s work. Whether you’re inactive or active, work is involved. A human body is actually capable of doing different levels of activities as the mind enables it. Even those without limbs can use their heads and their senses to work. We are all capable of learning to do different tasks. Our bodies are also subject to fatigue, and its degree is dependent on individual condition, situation, attitude and actually a lot of factors. Being tired is natural but when it becomes extreme, it can knock us down permanently.

What can we do when we feel we can’t possibly work anymore because we are being depleted of the energy that we need to go on. And not only that, there are times when a certain life’s issue can snatch away our enthusiasm to work that it makes us feel very tired already when actually we’re not being active at all. Let’s have this acronym for what we need when we feel overly fatigued already – REST!

R – REST. God commanded that we honor the Sabbath! That command is not for Him but ours. He designed our bodies to need quality rest.

E – ENJOY. See to it that you enjoy whatever gift of relationship God has blessed you with. Your relationship with God should be first to be nourished and given attention to and as you do, you’ll experience a refreshed mind and body. Enjoy a time with your loved ones and family.

S – SEEK what your body and health needs at the moment. Try to SUPPLY what seems to be lacking – sufficient SLEEP, fluids, vitamins, nutritious food..

T – Take TIME to analyze and weigh your present state of mind, body and soul. What gives you real joy and happiness? Are you still happy with what you’re doing? Are your accomplishments worth your time?

Life is short. Before we know it, we don’t have time for other things that we really enjoy because we’ve worked so much without giving attention to what will really make us happy and content. We all need a balanced schedule – for work, for family, for ourselves and most importantly, for God who gives us the ability to work.

Sunday

Probably Sunday is the easiest to figure out. It was named after the sun hence the name “Sun-day” or “day of the sun.”  

Image via Wikipedia (The sun)

The sun was worshipped by many early cultures hence its position as the first day of the week.

Monday

Once you figure out Sunday it is not too hard to figure out that Monday is really “Moon-day.” The word “month” also comes from the word “moon.” We have the word “lunar” which is the adjective for the word “moon” so even in Spanish and French we have Monday being called “Lunes” and “Lundi” respectively meaning “the day of the moon.”

Image via Wikipedia (The moon)

Tuesday

Tuesday was named after the Germanic-English god of war Tiwaz. Tuesday was called “Tiw’s day.”

Image via Wikipedia (An artist’s impression of Tiwaz)

Wednesday

Wednesday was named after the Anglo-Saxon god Woden referred to as “Wodan” by Germanic peoples. He was also called Odin. Wednesday was really “Woden’s day.” He is said to be identical with the Germanic god Mercury. We see the co-relation even in French where Wednesday is “Mercredi.”

Image via Wikipedia (Woden or Odin)

Thursday

Thursday comes from the name of the Germanic god of thunder called “Thor.” Thursday means “Thor’s day.” Thor is commonly depicted as having a hammer in his hand.

Image via Wikipedia (Thor)

Friday

The word “Friday” originates from the name of the Anglo-Saxon goddess Frige. She is often seen as the wife of Woden. (I guess they let Thor [Thursday] get between them).

Image via Wikipedia (Frige)

Saturday

The name “Saturday” means “Saturn’s day.” It was named after the Roman god Saturn which is also the name of a planet. Of interest here is the fact that the planet Saturn has a halo-like ring around it while Saturday is called “Sábado” in Spanish which means “Sabbath” the holy day of rest observed by Jews and Seventh-day Adventists. In many languages the word for Saturday is Sabbath. See here.

Image via Wikipedia (Saturn)

So there is the origin of the names of the seven days of the English week. It is full of names of planets, gods, or luminary bodies.

You may be interested in the following articles:

What Does The Name of The Month March Mean?

The Five Tallest Mountains in The World

Mt. Sinai Where God Met with Man

The Five Longest River Systems

The Greatest Earthquakes in the Bible

In the company of soldiers obedient is the number one rule. Obey first before you complain is their major routine for the day. The higher rank voice is always adhered and followed by the lower in rank.

A certain soldier was asked to be excused from attending church on Sunday morning. Saying to his official that he is a non-believer. So he must be in the quarter, for  a tasks to do.

The captain asked him: Do you mean  – - that  you don’t believed in the   Commandments? The soldier answered: Yes! Sir… I don’t believed — Captain. The captain again ask him: Well – - you don’t believed in keeping the Sabbath Holy? The diligent soldier promptly answered:  Exactly …. my Captain. The official … mused for a while .. then said: Ah h h!! then … you are the man I’ve been looking for. You can spend the whole Sunday. Doing the entire quarter chores: scrubbing and cleaning  our entire quarter.

The diligent soldier miserably spent his Sunday alone doing a tough job. In his thought – - It won’t pay good to be honest.

            It often seems like there is so much to do and so little time in which to do it. Is it really necessary to find the time to rest? Can’t we just rely on a good six hours of sleep or so and get on with our lives? Surely will all of the recreational activities offered in America, we’re finding plenty of rest. The truth is that we don’t rest nearly as much as we should. Though we still have traditional weekends, only regular churchgoers and Chick-fil-A consider Sunday the day of rest anymore. We’ve just got too much to do to slow down. However, more people are finding that without adequate rest, they are coming to a grinding halt.

            Life has two processes that continually interplay: catabolism and anabolism. Catabolism is involved with activity. It is the rigor that we exert throughout our work week and all of our actions, be they hobbies, volunteer work, or even entertainment and exercise. Anabolism is the process of replenishment. It is the period of renewal needed for catabolism to continue. It is the period of rest. Ultimately, if one of these processes stops, so will the other. This is the balance of living in a dualistic world. We have up and down, good and bad, light and dark, inside and outside, and yes, we have activity and rest.

            So what kind of rest do we need? How do we actually get it? While sleep is a part of rest, it is not the complete process. In actuality, the body doesn’t necessarily need to sleep, only the brain and central nervous system do. However the body does need rest, as do the mind, heart, and spirit.

            Because it carries us everywhere we go and performs every task we imagine, our body takes a lot of wear and tear. Most of us are pretty good about finding rest for our bodies. After all, most of us have televisions that require our bodies to be inactive. However, although television or sitting and listening to music is restful for the body, the mind and senses are still active and are unable to get the rest they need to replenish themselves. Entertainment is stimulation, and stimulation is an active process. It allows for some rest, but not the rest that a whole person needs.

            Contrarily, exercise and recreation, while restful for the mind, is exertion for the body. And though many of us try to find rest from the day in the historic coffee break, the stimulation of the caffeine doesn’t truly give us rest, but only further stimulates us to work through our fatigue. In addition, the alcohol and recreational drugs that are so often used to unwind after a long day are actually just pushing the body further and creating more physiological activity from which we will need to rejuvenate.

            So what’s the best way to recuperate from all that we put ourselves though? What about the rest of our rest?

            Active resting is a great necessity in maintaining a peaceful mental equilibrium, allowing us to rest our bodies, minds, hearts, and spirits. Active rest is most greatly achieved through meditation, allowing all thoughts of worry and fear to drift from the mind like smoke so that the mind can truly be free to rest and rejuvenate itself. This type of rest can be achieved by typical mediation practices or by simply reconnecting to the natural flow of life with a trip to a park or beach. There was a reason Jesus said to consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air. Go watch them and consider how stressed they are and how much rest they get.

            Resting of the senses can also be achieved through meditation. As we rest our bodies, minds, and senses, we need to rest our emotions as well. We spend so much of our daily lives in reaction to all that happens around us. Every time the body reacts to the mind, emotions are stirred. True relaxation allows us to fully rest, easing our minds, rejuvenating our bodies, stimulating our senses, and calming our hearts.

            Finally, and hopefully simultaneously, we will find rest of spirit. As we become active in the world around us, so much of our energy is expended ‘out there.’ Rest gives us the opportunity to sit quietly and reflect on what’s going on ‘in here.’ This is the reason every religious text proclaims the need to rest in one’s practice, the reason the Judeo/Christian heritage has devoted a complete day to it. It is necessary for us to rest so that we can reconnect with the Source of our being.

            For every process of activity, a time of rest is necessary. Football players have halftime. Blooming trees have winter. Union workers have coffee breaks. Paint has the time to dry.

            There truly is a lot to do in the world around us. There is so much to be passionate about in such an abundant place. There is so much to be excited about and involved in. But let us not forget to take time to replenish ourselves so that we may fully enjoy this experience of life and fully give ourselves to it.