Rest

I love my job.  I enjoy the people I work with.  I thrive on the challenges that seem to constantly be thrust onto my plate.  I enjoy solving problems.

I love time off.  And I really love getting out of town on vacation.  My wife and I went away for a few days last month to Lake Tahoe.  My oldest son and grandsons are with me in Sedona this week for 3 days.  I love vacations.

It is not necessarily about the scenery...even though today's sunset was stunningly breathtaking.  It isn't even about family even though I thoroughly enjoy every moment.  It is about rest.

When God told the Israelites to rest on the sabbath there was to be nothing done.  No cooking.  No cleaning.  No plowing.  No traveling.  Can you imagine such a day?  What would you do if you actually practiced that for one month.  Every Saturday, or whatever your day off is, you did no work of any kind.  What would it do for you?

I imagine it would be life changing.  On the trip to Lake Tahoe after a day or so, our minds were so free of work and responsibility that we were able to evaluate our life.  Direction. Responsibilities.   Choices.  Patterns of behavior. Our marriage.  Children.  Everything that was important was able to be seen in it's reality.

I am looking forward to that at about noon tomorrow.  Evaluation time!  Rest.

Maybe God knows what he is talking about.  There is a reason for rest.  It serves a purpose.  It allows the important to again rise to the forefront of our minds, because while we are busy we basically become functioning robots.  God has so much more planned.

So try it.  You'll like it.  It will be hard at first.  But force yourself to rest.  And enjoy the waves of God's values washing over you.