Weekends. Days Off. Vacations.
I don’t know about you, but for the most part, I am a get up and go kind of person when I have free time. Weekends are filled with activity, days off are usually on a golf course, and vacations are jam packed from sun up to sun down. I don’t want to miss a thing or waste a minute of my time.
FORTUNATELY, I have siblings who are NOT like me, and FORTUNATELY, they allow me to go on vacation with them—on occasion. On said occasions, I do not get to dictate the pace of the day. They do. And what I have learned, albeit a hard lesson at times, is that taking time to rest is a wonderful thing. I have also learned that I can still do pretty much all that I want to do even if I take time to rest.
I appreciate this lesson. When I come home from one of these vacations or at the end of one of these days, I am relaxed and renewed, not tired.
I can take solace in the thought that King David might have been a bit like me in this respect, for he writes in Psalm 23 that God “makes me to lie down in green pastures.” Doesn’t sound like he willingly took time to smell the roses either.
We need rest. Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time for everything. And even though it doesn’t mention rest specifically, the very fact that God Himself deemed it necessary to rest after creation is evidence enough that rest is a God-given gift. One that we should embrace and enjoy.
But we should also remember that finding perfect rest is more than just renewing and reviving ourselves physically and emotionally on our time off. Complete and perfect rest comes from giving our cares to Jesus to handle and knowing that our eternity is secure. Matthew 11:28-30 states it so well when Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
May Peace and Perfect Rest be with you this week.
I don’t know about you, but for the most part, I am a get up and go kind of person when I have free time. Weekends are filled with activity, days off are usually on a golf course, and vacations are jam packed from sun up to sun down. I don’t want to miss a thing or waste a minute of my time.
FORTUNATELY, I have siblings who are NOT like me, and FORTUNATELY, they allow me to go on vacation with them—on occasion. On said occasions, I do not get to dictate the pace of the day. They do. And what I have learned, albeit a hard lesson at times, is that taking time to rest is a wonderful thing. I have also learned that I can still do pretty much all that I want to do even if I take time to rest.
I appreciate this lesson. When I come home from one of these vacations or at the end of one of these days, I am relaxed and renewed, not tired.
I can take solace in the thought that King David might have been a bit like me in this respect, for he writes in Psalm 23 that God “makes me to lie down in green pastures.” Doesn’t sound like he willingly took time to smell the roses either.
We need rest. Ecclesiastes 3 reminds us that there is a time for everything. And even though it doesn’t mention rest specifically, the very fact that God Himself deemed it necessary to rest after creation is evidence enough that rest is a God-given gift. One that we should embrace and enjoy.
But we should also remember that finding perfect rest is more than just renewing and reviving ourselves physically and emotionally on our time off. Complete and perfect rest comes from giving our cares to Jesus to handle and knowing that our eternity is secure. Matthew 11:28-30 states it so well when Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
May Peace and Perfect Rest be with you this week.
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