How good are you at resting? Do you consciously take time out of your day and week just to sit, to unwind, to be thankful, to take a walk and kick the autumn leaves? Or is it something that you feel guilty about?
The Ten commandments include a requirement to rest once a week and to keep it holy (set apart). It was to be a day deliberately different from the rest. Genesis says that God himself rested on the 7th day after creating everything. It was in the context of stopping that He saw that things were good.
I am pretty rubbish at resting and relaxing to be honest. There is always something to do and I feel bad if I’m not doing. Even if I do rest I can struggle that I don’t “feel rested”. The irony is that I can be quite inefficient even within all the activity. Apparently the Russian communists tried an experiment by banning Sundays (or any other days) as rest days to improve productivity. It worked-for a short while. Then productivity dropped even lower than it was before. Our bodies emotionally, physically and physiologically need periods of recuperation. We need to reconnect with ourselves, each other and with God. It’s best to follow the manufacturers instructions. I hope you can rest today.
Today is the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church (IDOP). For many persecuted Christians it is hard to rest because of the pressures of life and in many places hard to meet. But because they value meeting with other Christians so much they will go out of their way to carve out time and space to be with them. It is special.
You can hear about and pray for persecuted Christians at a special meeting this Sunday evening at 8pm.
https://www.opendoorsuk.org/resources/prayer/idop/
I mentioned in my last blog about my calendar. Hopefully I have now mastered the technology to be able to show it to you. Thanks for all who have bought one but plenty are still available. Minimum donation of £6 plus p and p.
https://justgiving.com/fundraising/AdrianSmith6060
Adrian@60 