I'm here in Big Bear Lake, enjoying a few days of personal retreat. It's a much needed time to think, pray, evaluate and plan without the normal day-to-day busyness that surrounds me in Lancaster. I haven't had a lot of leisure time, but my time has been sweet!
Earlier today I was walking a trail in the national forest along one side of the lake. I then found a rock on which to sit, read, think, and pray.
Not long after that, I drove down to the lakeside to sit and do some more reading, thinking and praying. In the beauty of the rocky woods and of the lakeside, I was able to take my time and just observe the many living things around me. How simple life is, I thought, for those woodpeckers hammering away at the side of that tree! How simple life is for that wee hummingbird flitting around to tiny flowers for food, for those ducks gliding on the water's calm surface, for the tree who towers majestically over me. Good grief, I thought to myself and prayed to the Father, what would it be like to think only about getting food and avoiding predators? What would life be without cell phones, calendars, meetings, deadlines, alarm clocks, bills to pay or cars to maintain?
Well, in thinking a little deeper on these things I realized that the simplicity of those creatures' lives isn't without its drawbacks. There's nothing to be envied about having to spend most of one's life searching for food to survive, is there? It's not an ambition of anyone I know to have a life of evading predatory creatures in one's home environment. Come to think of it, I guess I have as much time as the birds and bugs have in a given day; the difference is in the options given to me in how to use that time. They are just as busy as I am, but they don't get to look back on their days and see the lasting benefit of what they've accomplished. I've got it good compared to those birds, lizards and flowers!
Ah, but busyness does wear on us, doesn't it? Slowing down and finding rest in our busy days is a good thing. Sabbath was God's idea and design for us, after all. Yet, he did tell us to work six days out of seven. Our rest is best when we've worked hard to get to it. Six days of work leading up to one day of rest is a well crafted balance (well done, Maker!). We're made to be productive and working. There's something unbecoming and even unnatural about laziness and lethargy for God's image-bearing creation.
The classic workman's anthem, "Everybody's working for the weekend," expresses a common attitude toward work and busyness. It's something like, "Do it because you have to, but be quick to get on with what really matters - play time!" As disciples of Christ, however, we have come to a Master who calls us to see work and labor as a joy and a satisfying exercise in worshiping Him. Yet he also calls us to come to Him and find rest. Interesting, isn't it, that in calling servants to His work, He brings them into a perpetual Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9)? Fellow workers, labor and strive with me! Let us share the yoke of Christ together even as we find strength, energy, joy and contentment in His abiding presence. Take breaks, rest and slow down when you need to. The work and your fellow workers will still be here when you're done. The urgency of Christ's kingdom work compels us to be about His business, but it should also compel us to rest purposefully and thoughtfully. Let us be such servants that we rest for the sake of the work, not in an attempt to escape it. Amen!
Not long after that, I drove down to the lakeside to sit and do some more reading, thinking and praying. In the beauty of the rocky woods and of the lakeside, I was able to take my time and just observe the many living things around me. How simple life is, I thought, for those woodpeckers hammering away at the side of that tree! How simple life is for that wee hummingbird flitting around to tiny flowers for food, for those ducks gliding on the water's calm surface, for the tree who towers majestically over me. Good grief, I thought to myself and prayed to the Father, what would it be like to think only about getting food and avoiding predators? What would life be without cell phones, calendars, meetings, deadlines, alarm clocks, bills to pay or cars to maintain?
Well, in thinking a little deeper on these things I realized that the simplicity of those creatures' lives isn't without its drawbacks. There's nothing to be envied about having to spend most of one's life searching for food to survive, is there? It's not an ambition of anyone I know to have a life of evading predatory creatures in one's home environment. Come to think of it, I guess I have as much time as the birds and bugs have in a given day; the difference is in the options given to me in how to use that time. They are just as busy as I am, but they don't get to look back on their days and see the lasting benefit of what they've accomplished. I've got it good compared to those birds, lizards and flowers!
Ah, but busyness does wear on us, doesn't it? Slowing down and finding rest in our busy days is a good thing. Sabbath was God's idea and design for us, after all. Yet, he did tell us to work six days out of seven. Our rest is best when we've worked hard to get to it. Six days of work leading up to one day of rest is a well crafted balance (well done, Maker!). We're made to be productive and working. There's something unbecoming and even unnatural about laziness and lethargy for God's image-bearing creation.
The classic workman's anthem, "Everybody's working for the weekend," expresses a common attitude toward work and busyness. It's something like, "Do it because you have to, but be quick to get on with what really matters - play time!" As disciples of Christ, however, we have come to a Master who calls us to see work and labor as a joy and a satisfying exercise in worshiping Him. Yet he also calls us to come to Him and find rest. Interesting, isn't it, that in calling servants to His work, He brings them into a perpetual Sabbath rest (Hebrews 4:9)? Fellow workers, labor and strive with me! Let us share the yoke of Christ together even as we find strength, energy, joy and contentment in His abiding presence. Take breaks, rest and slow down when you need to. The work and your fellow workers will still be here when you're done. The urgency of Christ's kingdom work compels us to be about His business, but it should also compel us to rest purposefully and thoughtfully. Let us be such servants that we rest for the sake of the work, not in an attempt to escape it. Amen!
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