I hope the title of this post got your attention. I promise it’s not “click bait” I do want you to build a wall. Just not the one that probably came to mind when you read today’s title. This will not be a politically laced message about the need to protect U.S. borders and address illegal aliens or our country’s immigration policies. Instead, I want you to build a border around your life. Not to isolate yourself from others, or become a hermit, but instead to put boundaries in place to protect your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual borders, so that when you engage in life and with others you will flourish.

The Rest Stop is coming up on two years since I began writing weekly blogs about pursuing greater rest and life balance. My own journey began five years ago, and I continue to learn new principles and practices on a weekly basis that have continued to shape my life. If I were to share one thought that characterizes the biggest obstacle I’ve faced in my journey toward the shores of rest and life balance, it is the “winds of resistance.” Our western culture is almost entirely opposed to and resists the concept of rest and life balance.  We are a driven society and culture.

We resist rest, sleep, balance, contentment, living with less, rhythm, and simply stopping. Ours is a workforce driven by the bottom line. We demand more productivity, more sales, move more product, make more money, work longer hours, keep insane schedules, maintain no margin. And all at the expense of the important relationships in our life that we are supposedly trying do all this for in the first place.. “Busyness” is the badge of honor we wear to convince ourselves of how important we are. Most refuse to set up and enforce boundaries to protect themselves and their loved ones.

Are you tired of being blown around by a sea of activity? Have you reached a point of exhaustion or perhaps burnout and you are ready to set sail for the shores of rest and life balance?  Then it is time to blow off the winds of resistance, build a wall of boundaries, and enforce them.

In the Old Testament book of Nehemiah, we see examples of resistance that will prevent you from building the wall you need. In chapter two, Nehemiah is a cup bearer for king Artaxerxes, a very prominent and prestigious position. The king asks, “Why the sad face?” Which was a no no in the presence of the king. But Nehemiah found favor, and the King asked two questions, why and what do you want me to do? Nehemiah says why shouldn’t I be sad when the city of my people lies in ruins and the walls are burned down? That answered the why. And his response to the king’s what. Let me go to my city, send me with letters and orders to provide me with supplies so I can rebuild the walls and the city. That’s a pretty bold and gutsy request! The king grants his request, and in an amazing 52 days the walls of Jerusalem were completed, and the gates of the city were set. They could now begin the work of rebuilding the city because the walls were up.

However, when Nehemiah arrived, he encountered incredible resistance by Sanballat and Tobias, the Arabs, the Ammonites, and others. They were determined to stop Nehemiah and his team and used multiple tactics to resist and prevent the rebuild. The enemies first created an atmosphere of danger threating Nehemiah and the workers as they started the building project. When the threat of danger didn’t work, they used the tactics of derision. They mocked and ridiculed Nehemiah and his work crew. When that didn’t work, they tried to cause division in the ranks to discourage the workers and lead them to despair and to give up. One of the things that caused discouragement was there was so much rubble and trash that had to be hauled off before they could actually begin rebuilding the wall, the workers felt overwhelmed. Then their enemies tried to divert their attention and cause distraction. And finally, when these divisive strategies didn’t work, they tried to discredit and attack Nehemiah’s character.  

There are great lessons to learn from this true story that can help you as you face the resistance and build your wall to achieve a life of rest and life balance. 1) Recognize that resistance of derision, distraction, division and discouragement will come. 2) In the biblical narrative Nehemiah and the workers met the resistance and attacks with prayer and preparation. They were resilient. 3) You will likely need to haul off a lot of rubble and trash from your life in the form of unhealthy thinking and previous practices before you can effectively build the walls that need to be constructed. Nehemiah rebuilt the walls and set the gates of the city in a remarkable 52 days. Why not take the next 52 days to start your own building project. Let me know how things turn out.

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