I’m sure you
have heard the statement, “Come apart before you fall apart.” I perhaps have
shared the importance of this concept more than once in this blog. It bears
repeating. Rest is something the human body needs. Rest is something the mind
needs. Rest is something the spirit needs. With the holidays stretching out
before us, you, your mind, your body, and your spirit need time to rest.
It doesn’t
take much thought to list the benefits of rest. Your body’s cells have a chance
to clean out and renew. Tissue has a chance to repair before the next big push.
The brain has a chance to cull through all its experiences and file the accumulation
in the proper levels of consciousness. Rest gives the soul a chance to hear
God.
Over the
next several weeks each of us will be involved in making plans for how we will
spend each of the coming holidays. We will plan dates on which action has to be
taken. We will plan the action we will take. We will plan travel or how to
receive those who will be traveling. We will plan what to eat, where to sleep,
and even how much sleep we can expect to get.
We will go
shopping. We will decide what we will buy, how much we will pay for it, and who
will receive it. We will decide how we will give it to them and if we will see
them when we do. We will buy food, clothing, jewelry, household items, tools,
travel tickets, and gift cards, perhaps lots of gift cards! We will decide when
to use credit cards and when to use cash and when we have spent enough and when
we are done.
God wonders
if we will continue until we collapse, until the money runs out, or simply when
the calendar says we have run out of time. Somewhere along the line he hopes we
will slow down enough to get the rest he intended for us mortals. At the same
time we will have the opportunity to listen to him.
When God
clarified his laws on Sabbath rest in Deuteronomy 5:13-14, he was emphasizing
the need to build in a break from the routine of making a living or the
accumulation of things. We need rest. Rest is so important God commanded that
everyone take time for it, a full day every week.
Deu
5:13 You have six days in which to do
your work,
Deu
5:14 but the seventh day is a day of
rest dedicated to me. On that day no one is to work---neither you, your
children, your slaves, your animals, nor the foreigners who live in your
country. Your slaves must rest just as you do.
The Gospel
of Mark records Jesus saw the need for his disciples to find a place and time
to rest especially in the midst of high emotion and conflicting expectations.
Mar 6:31 There were so many people
coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn't even have time to eat. So
he said to them, "Let us go off by ourselves to some place where we will
be alone and you can rest a while."
The wonder
of these holidays cannot be enjoyed through the memories of others. Our own experiences
must be a critical part of this time of year. If our memories are to be more
than those of fighting shopping lines, standing in the kitchen baking,
screaming at kids to leave things alone, and checking visitation schedules,
then we must schedule a time to stop.
Take time in
this season to sit and write a list of the good things in your life. Include
the material things and those blessings found in relationships. Take time to
see colors around you. Some will be in nature and some will be manmade. Take
time to listen to sounds. Some will be natural. Others will be manmade. Some
sounds will be uniquely human voices.
Take time to
listen to God and in turn speak to him. He’s been waiting for this opportunity
all year.
