Setting a Restful Pace by Eryn Lynum

by Rachael Adams | May 6, 2025 | The Love Offering Guest Blog Series

In the wild, animals fill their days with vital activities. They are focused on survival and reproduction, reflecting their God- given initiative to produce after their own kind. They hunt, gather, reproduce, and seek shelter. My family and I see this every autumn when we go up to watch the elk in rut season in Rocky Mountain National Park. It is fascinating and exhausting to watch. The male bull elk are busy gathering female cows and calves into small groups, called harems, and protecting them from rival males. The elk are solely focused on reproducing, finding food and shelter, and staying safe. These are their vital activities.

Although our vital activities look different from the animal kingdom’s, we can learn from nature about prioritizing what matters. When we wake, what is the first thing we think or do? Are we neglecting any of our values like faith, marriage, parenting, personal growth, community, or health?

Discontent and unrest rise when there is a tension between our values and lifestyle. When I value spending time with my family but I’m not making space in our calendar for walks outside together or board games around the table, my soul is not at rest. I often feel this tension when I neglect to set a restful pace in life.

As I practice writing margin into our calendar, saying no to most commitments or activities and giving my time to what I value most, a deep and settling peace returns. Setting a restful pace frees us from frantic and reactive living so we can live intentionally and spend our time on what is truly vital to our minds, bodies, souls, and families. It is time to get greedy about our time in the best of ways, take back what God has given us, and employ it for good and growth.

It’s up to you and me to make the most important things–the most important things. Think about a bear preparing for winter. Although they don’t truly hibernate, bears go through a time of hyperphagia before cold weather sets in. This is when a bear eats around twenty thousand calories a day to increase its body weight by 20 to 30 percent. During this time of preparing for winter, if a bear woke and was immediately distracted, giving its time to frivolous things, it would sacrifice crucial time for vital activities like foraging and bulking up fat stores.

Many of us have heard the illustration of a jar, rocks, and sand. The jar represents our time, the rocks represent our values, and the sand is everything else. The only way to get the big meaningful things (rocks) into the jar is to put them in first, and then add the smaller things (sand) to fit around the rocks. If we fill the jar with sand first, there is no room left for rocks. I have one of these jars on my shelf as a reminder to fill my time with what is most important first. When I filled the jar, what struck me was that I had leftover sand. Had I begun filling the jar with sand (minor things) instead of rocks (values), the jar would have fit every grain of sand. But because I began with rocks, representing things like faith, family, rest, purposeful work, and health, there wasn’t enough room left for all the sand grains. The point is this: By filling our time first with what we value, the excess is edited out.

This is how I set a pace as I begin each day: I front-load the day with what matters most. I walk the neighborhood just after dawn to listen to the birds. I work out before the passing of hours, which wear on my motivation. I enjoy coffee with my husband as we discuss the day before us. I sit and read my kids a book before I start a work project. I don’t do each of these things every day. However, as I practice intentionally placing them at the front end of my days, they happen more often. Think about the rocks and sand, which relate back to God’s pattern at creation: Rest comes first. If we fill our time with everything else, we won’t have time for the vital activity of rest. Our day’s vital work depends on us beginning with rest.

By identifying and front-loading what’s most important, you’ll combat the temptation to rush through your day, hoping you’ll eventually get to what matters . . . if there is leftover time. Don’t risk running out of hours before getting to what matters most.

We can set a restful pace not only for our days but also for months and years. Approaching a new month feels fresh and full of potential. My kids are always eager for their turn to flip the paper calendar on the first day of a new month. I then sit down with it and write whatever is on the digital calendar I use to plan our year. This way we’re all on the same page about how the month unfolds.

However, as I transfer events and commitments from the digital calendar and the white space on the paper calendar fills, I’m always surprised by how much we’ve said yes to in advance.

I have learned that I need to practice restraint months ahead. Suppose it is January, and friends ask us to come to dinner in March. In that case, I add it to our March calendar, noting we are officially planning two months out. I must carefully protect time in March, or we’ll arrive at March 1 and already have no margin.

By keeping a digital calendar that all other calendars refer to, you can block out times and even entire days that are untouchable. You can dramatically dial back the pace of your life by building in margin months in advance. It’s simple— if we make no margin, there will be no margin.

By choosing ahead of time what you will and will not allow into a day, month, and year, you can practice control of the pace of your life and ensure there is ample time for vital activities, including rest. Wherever you are at in the calendar month, look at the four weeks ahead of you. Consider each commitment made and which values it reflects. Are each of your commitments or responsibilities vital activities supporting what matters most? Consider which ones are extra fluff or not contributing much (or anything) to your most important values. Decide now how you can respectfully back out of those opportunities or phase out of them in the coming months.

The Roots

Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. (Ephesians 5:15–17)

Carefully | ἀκριβῶς | akribōs | ak-r ee- boce’ | exactly, accu-rately, diligently

Wise | σοφός | sophos | sof- os’ | skilled, to act wisely, experienced, clever, learned

Rest & Reflect

Setting a healthy, restful pace is a powerful way we can make “the best use of the time.” As we align our pace with God’s and fall into step with him, we can better understand his will for our lives. Notice the author’s use of the word carefully. Especially considering today’s connected world with abounding opportunities, requests, and demands on your time, what can you cut out to be diligent, ruthless, even in protecting your time for vital activities?

Under the Microscope

“Ah, stubborn children” is not a great way to be greeted. But this is how God addressed the Israelites in Isaiah 30. God had a good rea-son for calling out his people. He said they were a people “who carry out a plan, but not mine.” God continued by pointing out where they went wrong, including seeking refuge in fallible humans without his direction, which he said would become their shame and humiliation.

Have you ever attempted to carry out a plan that wasn’t God’s? Maybe it was a big plan regarding a relationship, move, or career. Or our prideful “I’ve got this” moment might be in an area that doesn’t seem like a big deal. We might rush into accepting an opportunity because it is exciting, without first weighing the cost of time and energy. We can easily fall into the trap of stubbornness in our day- to- day lives. As you and I go through a day, are we attempting to carry out a plan that God does not have his hand in? Are we setting a pace he doesn’t want for us?

In Isaiah 30:13 God gives a powerful visual to show the result of the Israelite’s wandering: “Therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant.”

When we intentionally turn away from God’s plan or pace, we are bound to break. Pursuing our plans without God’s hand leads to restless, fast- paced, unsustainable living. Is your life’s wall breached? Has following your personal agenda away from God’s direction left you vulnerable? Choose this moment to repent. Lay your plans at the feet of Jesus.

Pray this prayer: Lord, I surrender my desires and what I think is best. Your best is better. Help me carry out your work for me at your pace, in your power, and for your glory. Amen.

The good news is that God didn’t leave the Israelites helpless, and he doesn’t abandon us either.

Despite the Israelites’ wandering, God offered them hope.

I SA I A H 3 0 :15, 18, 2 0 says, For thus said the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” Therefore, the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; all those who wait for him are blessed. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet your Teacher will not hide himself anymore, but your eyes shall see your Teacher. And your ears shall hear a word behind you, saying, “This is the way, walk in it,” when you turn to the right or when you turn to the left.

When we trade our agendas and paces for God’s, we can rest in his strength, grace, and direction. How can you return to his rest this week? Is there an opportunity you rushed into and are now regretting or second- guessing? Ask him to grant clarity and to quiet your spirit as you trust his guidance and provision.

Eryn Lynum

About the Author

Eryn Lynum is a certified Master Naturalist, educator, and national speaker. Eryn hosts the popular podcast for kids, Nat Theo: Nature Lessons Rooted in the Bible. She is the author of Rooted in Wonder: Nurturing Your Family’s Faith Through God’s Creation, The Nature of Rest: What the Bible and Creation Teach Us About Sabbath Living, and 936 Pennies: Discovering the Joy of Intentional Parenting. She lives in Northern Colorado with her husband, Grayson, and their four children, whom they homeschool. Eryn has been featured on broadcasts including Focus on the Family, FamilyLife Today, Christian Parenting, and Raising Christian Kids. Every opportunity she gets, she is out exploring God’s creation with her family and sharing the adventures at ErynLynum.com.