Many of us are experiencing spring break this week. For coaches that might mean time off of work, the chance to take your family on a trip, having your kids home from school, maybe a chance to sleep past 5:30 AM for once. Whatever it means for you, I hope you're enjoying it, and getting at least a little extra rest.
We live in a fast-paced world. Nobody can argue with that. In this hurry-up society of ours, it's becoming harder and harder to have the margin in our schedules needed for optimal levels of rest. I heard a guy last week talking about how he's discovered something incredible. As often as possible (he shoots for once a week), he tries to have a day where both he and his entire family have basically nothing scheduled. He really was talking about this like it was the newest idea ever.
I tried to be nice about it, but I couldn't resist telling him, "I think that idea's been around for a while. I'm pretty sure it's the 4th commandment from Exodus 20". I wasn't trying to make this guy feel dumb, I was trying to affirm that I think he's exactly right. We are not only told that it might be a good idea to take time to rest, we are commanded to do so. It's not merely a suggestion.
Most of us take very seriously the commandments to refrain from murder, stealing, adultery, etc., even if we don't keep them perfectly in our hearts. How many of us other than Chick-fil-A, myself included, take seriously the commandment to spend one day every week resting? What would happen if we did? I have a feeling we'd probably get a lot more done in the other six days than we do now in seven. Call it a hunch. I doubt we'll ever experience this on any kind of a culture-wide level. But could we buck the trend individually and with our families? As I think about my own family it seems scary. A whole day where we get nothing done? No laundry, emails, or shopping trips? That seems crazy.
I'm going to pray and ask God what it looks like for me and my family to obey His commandment regarding rest in 2012. I don't want to be overly dogmatic about rest. Jesus tended to butt heads with the guys who turned this commandment into a horrible burden and list of rules for the people. But at that same time, I don't want to be flippantly disobedient either. Stay tuned.
80's Lyric
- Madness (1982)
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