One of the things I love about the end of October is how the land knows that it is time to rest. Think about it. The grass is done, the trees have lost most of their leaves, and the land is quiet, still. Rest can be such a beautiful thing.
Then I ask myself, why am I so bad at it? Rest, I mean.
During the Pandemic one of the podcasts I was listening to is called Hurry Slowly – it’s a podcast about pacing yourself and intentional, thoughtful living. In the show, the host once asked the question, Who are you without the doing?
Let me say that again:
Who are you without the doing?
Take a breath, stop what you’re doing, and really think about it. It’s not supposed to be an easy question. I’m still pondering it years later.
…
“Certainly work is not always required of a man. There is such a thing as a sacred idleness, the cultivation of which is now fearfully neglected.”
– George MacDonald
Verse Gen 2:1-3
Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
2 And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.
3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
And later…
Mark 2:27
And He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath.
God has built rest and contemplation into the fabric of the world for our good and health.
We are more than what we can do. Rest, real rest, helps us discover who we are and heals us. Rest is not simply a good idea, it’s been made sacred by God, especially on Sunday. Rest was specifically made for God’s creation. It was quite literally made for us.
Who are you without the doing?
How will you enjoy God’s sacred, sanctified Rest? Whether on Sundays or during late Fall and Wintertime. Who are you? Feel the answer. Rest is holy and sacred too, you know.
