How Did You Spend Your Day of Rest?

“Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” – Genesis 2:3

Labor Day – the unofficial end of summer – a long holiday weekend – cookouts with grills, hot dogs, and hamburgers, and friends – a quick trip to the beach. All this sounds like work! It seems that for us to take a day of rest, we have to do some work. Does that not defeat the purpose?

Think about it. To have a cookout, one has to prepare the meats for the grill, prepare side dishes to go along with your main entrée, prepare a dessert or desserts, clean the house and make sure you have ample seating for the guests.

Hmmm, this sounds a little like last week’s blog.

Or suppose you decide that you want to take the family on one final trip to observe the holiday. Okay then, you have to choose where you’re going, pack the appropriate wardrobe for everyone, make accommodations for the pets, load up the car, close the house down, and then drive one to four hours depending on where you decide to go. It makes you tried thinking about it. Then, when you return home, you need a day to rest from your weekend of rest.

How did this all happen? When did we decide that we had to put so much energy into resting?

If we are Christ-like and are to follow the examples set forth by Elohim then, we should take those things to heart and follow them explicitly. As we know, God worked for six days and then took a day’s rest, on the seventh day – a Sabbath. God looked back on all His labor and decided that it was good, and then rewarded Himself.

Our work this year has been unprecedented. Many have been working from home, or unfortunately, not working at all. It has been more stressful in an unusual way. Not to mention the start of school and trying to acclimate a new way of learning.

Perhaps this year, rest is more mental than physical. Maybe, we don’t mind doing a little work to achieve a sense of normalcy. This pandemic has had us on house arrest. Only until now have we been able to proceed with caution exercising semi-limited liberties.

So, what if you have to pull out the grill and prepare for fifteen or twenty people. If the kids pack their own bags, a one, two, three, or four-hour drive is not so bad.

This past weekend may not have been what you were expecting. Nonetheless, no matter what your preparations were, nor what you found yourself doing, the most important thing is that you were here. And with the grace and mercies of God, you have next year to look forward to genuinely resting in Him.

For, “there remains, therefore, a rest for the people of God.”

Join me next week for Coffee on The Couch