“A study showed that in 1968 it took 15 hours to record one hour of pure nature without the ambient sounds of airplanes, cars, and other manufactured reverberations. As of the year 2005, it took more than 2,000 hours of recorded time to yield the same hour of pure nature sounds.” *
Can you even imagine what it would take today?!

This striking quote spells out something we already know – finding silence requires intentionality. Stillness, quiet, and rest don’t just happen; we have to make space for them, now more than ever.

Here are six practical ways to build more margin into your life and create room for greater peace:

1. Set limits. Overbooked schedules edge out time for rest. Create rules and structure around the time you spend looking at screens, fulfilling commitments, and even working.
2. Declutter. Excess stuff in your space brings excess clutter to your mind. Organize and simplify your home to enjoy greater rest.
3. Solve a problem that’s been bothering you. It’s easy to procrastinate solving issues that cause us stress but dealing with them brings relief.
4. Adjust your family rhythms. What drains your energy, adds stress, or robs you of family time? What could you change to create more time with loved ones? Could you plan to travel, serve, play, or give together?
5. Practice the Sabbath. The Jewish tradition of Sabbath means to denote a particular expanse of time as set apart for rest. Worship, contemplation, prayer, and simply taking a nice, long exhale can all help us pause and reconnect with God and ourselves.
6. Plan for the future. Have you created an estate plan? Roughly 70% of Americans do not have an up-to-date will; many avoid the process because they feel overwhelmed or assume they have many years still to prepare. The process of creating or updating a will can be surprisingly simple, and it creates immeasurable peace of mind.

God’s design is that we would work from our rest, not work until we collapse into it. Maybe that’s why man’s first day on earth was one to rest – God’s sending us a message, loud and clear.

*Quote from Quiet: Hearing God Amidst the Noise by AJ Sherrill