There's a saying in evangelical Christian circles which goes like this: if you're too busy to pray, you're too busy. What that means is that if you get so busy that you can't find time to spend some time 'spending time with God' - reading the bible, talking to God and sitting listening for the 'still small voice', then you are definitely doing too much.
I'm in an odd place. I've been praying plenty, but a few days ago, whilst spending a little time sitting in the garden trying to enjoy the nice weather I realised that far too much of my prayer life recently has been spent talking - mainly praying for others - and far, far, too little spending time with God on my own behalf. That means that my spiritual 'walk with God' has suffered and that, in turn, has given rise to a 'disgruntlement' with life in general. Nothing quite seems to satisfy, and I can't seem to settle to doing things. When I do manage, they seem hollow and pointless - whether they're 'jobs' or things I'm supposedly doing to relax.
I have also been failing to relax properly - my last two 'days off' (supposed to be Fridays!), have ended up being consumed with chores I'd failed to get done earlier in the week, through being too busy. There's a danger of that happening this week too - I have another 'over-full' diary.
Relaxation, downtime, call it what you will, is important. We shouldn't spend all our time working - whether that's for pay, doing chores, or whatever. When I do, I find that gradually, I get more stressed, and find myself working even more - unable to discern what's important and what's merely urgent (and which could safely be ignored or delegated). One way or another, Christian or not, if you don't make some time to sit quietly and contemplate, you're not in a healthy place. But beyond that, we do need to relax too; to spend time just being, pursuing hobbies, socialising - things with no real purpose, other than 'rest and relaxation'. The bible tells us that even God does this. Whatever you may think of the creation story in the book of Genesis, it does set out this useful principle for a healthy life.
By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:2-3
In Jewish terms, this day of rest runs from sunset on Friday until sunset on Saturday. The early Christians also seem to have observed this, and taken the next day (Sunday) as a day to serve God. Later, this became confused, and the 'sabbath' became associated with both the day of rest and the day when we serve God. For those of us who work for the church, either in paid employment or as volunteers, Sunday is anything but a day of rest! So we need another day of rest.
But that's getting a bit off the point. The point I'm making is that I've got too 'wrapped up' in all the 'things' - being busy. I need to take a step back; I need to 'let go and let God' (to retrieve a phrase popular rather longer ago than I care to admit remembering). I need to make time for Him - for spending quality time with Him; I need to make quality time for me - when I can just 'be me' rather than being 'me the churchwarden' or 'me the house-husband'.