Broadcast April 11 2008
Have you noticed how politicians these days talk about hard-working families? It’s an expression that gets used by representatives of all parties - even in manifestos. We don’t hear about families – but “hard-working families” time and time again. Westminster MP Ivan Lewis used it the other day when he suggested that the government was sometimes silent on “the daily realities facing hard-working families”. Now clearly work is important, and I guess that hard work can be a good thing, but I do think that we have got to the stage in our society where work is stressed to the exclusion of other equally important things. According to this year’s report of the Office for National Statistics, we are richer but we are not happier.
I remember growing up in the fifties and sixties and hearing another expression: “labour saving device.” And a whole lot of inventions appeared to save us work – electric washing machines, cars to speed travel, and the message in those days was that in the future we wouldn’t need to work so many hours.
What happened? Not only do we work longer hours, we sleep on average two hours less than 30 years ago. My stepson works in a job that requires him to work 12 hours per day: Monday – Friday, and a few more hours over Saturday and Sunday. That’s a 7 day week and it’s not healthy. It’s not just people in paid employment who suffer – I’m sure we all know plenty of retired people who are running themselves ragged with activity.
In the Jewish and Christian traditions there is the concept of Sabbath. It’s not that there is anything special about Saturday or Sunday in themselves – it’s a way of marking a need for people to have a time and space for rest, relaxation and just stopping. We need to take that time. It helps us to gain perspective. It is necessary if we want to develop spiritually and in Jesus’ words to “live life to the full.”
Time for slowing down: for reflection and recreation, time for families and relationships are all essential to health. They matter every bit as much as another day of busyness - no matter what we are doing. After all, our final words are unlikely to be: “If only I’d spent more time at the office!”