I was really coming to the end of myself, and there were few around me who couldn’t perceive it. Unraveling. Stressed. Taut. Edgy.
Was it that circumstances were barraging me more aggressively and relentlessly, or that I was not absorbing the blows of fallen-world-life with the softness of a heart open to shifting agendas? I don’t know. Probably both. All I know is that I needed a rest.
And funny thing, just as I was packing to leave home for about 36 hours (with the blessing of my family and a text message from a friend: “NO MORE THAN ONE HOUR OF WORK; REST!”), a friend sent me a great article (which of course I did not have time to read — until now), on the need for regular rest. Listen to just one little piece and look back at these commandments regarding rest. A great encouragement on a topic I am experientially pondering: Why rest?:)
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor the alien within your gates, so that your manservant and maidservant may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.”Deuteronomy 5
“Why should we rest? In the first take (Exodus 20), we hear how the Creator made all things – and then stopped to rest, enjoying all the good that He’d made good, so very good. Don’t forget exactly how you got here. Faith awakens and remembers. We serve this Maker by working well and resting well. But in the second take (Deuteronomy 5), we hear how the Redeemer freed His beloved from the meaningless sweat of slave labor and carried those He had rescued into a place of rest and peace. Don’t forget exactly how you got here. Faith awakens and remembers. We serve this Savior by working well and resting well, and also by giving others who toil – even work animals – the pleasures of rest.” David Powlison, Innocent Pleasures
