relaxing with what one can do

I have several books I want to read now, all at the same time. Some are challenging intellectually, probably all of them to some degree. And there's just no way I have time to do justice to them all, or finish them as soon as I want to, or think I need to. Add to that other responsibilities, and you get the picture.

In such places, whatever it is we may be doing we need to learn to relax with what we can do, rather than hurry and end up distraught over what we can't do. In this we have the joy of working hard, but well. When I put too much on my plate, I can eat too fast, hardly enjoying the food, or at least not enough, and I am probably eating too much, and end up uncomfortable, at least. With too much to do, I can end up the same way, really getting little out of it, and glad when it's over. Hardly what was in my mind and heart at the beginning when I was eagerly looking forward to it.

In all of this is humility as well. It is a walk with God and with others in this life, not just me individually with God. We need God and each other. We each have our part in this, and we need to simply learn to relax with what we can do, what God has called us to do. As the writer of Ecclesiastes wrote, "Much study wearies the body...The end of the matter is Fear God! And keep his commandments."

And we should love to work hard, but it should be like play as well. As much as that is possible in this fallen world, where toil and difficulty are inevitable.

What would you like to add here, or any thoughts?

a beautiful weekend

In my area weatherwise, we are enjoying a most beautiful weekend. When a post is late, that usually means I'm home, and away from my normal, workaday world.

This weekend here in the United States, we celebrate the birthday of our country. Tomorrow of course is July the 4th, which is the one date for all Americans- that is understood. Plenty of fireworks in store, along with parades and fun times.

For me, I like to read with my wife somewhere, probably over sodas or coffee, for my wife water or tea- outdoors, preferably under a nice shade tree and on or near a beach. That is relaxing to me. We can talk back and forth on what we're reading, and about life in general.

That for me is about as good a day as any I can think of.

(Of course Sundays in worship with others, are special.)

What is your ideal of a good day, one that you especially can enjoy?

under pressure

We don't need pressure all the time. As the psalmist points out, we need those seasons of quietness and refeshing.

But it's interesting to me how I often see the Lord's hand on my life most clearly, and see the most blessing during the hard, challenging times. If I'm not pushed to the limit, I can easily end up eventually drifting, and becoming lax in my faith and walk in God.

Life inherently in this existence comes with it problems, without and within. Compounded as we seek to follow Jesus with others in mission. Jesus' life is made manifest through us in the crucible of our struggles and weaknesses. So we should never give into despair, but see all of life as an opportunity to glorify God in seeking to follow Christ through good times and bad.

What would you like to add from your own life, or thoughts, on this?

regular rest

God made us to rest regularly. When I, for whatever reason don't get sufficient rest, it is sometimes an effort just to get through an entire day. Such was the case yesterday. I was up too late and didn't get enough sleep the night before. And the work was challenging enough. So when I got home, besides visiting with Deb, I mostly just crashed.

There are those times every day when we need our rest. But this rest as in physical sleep, surely has a correspondence to a spiritual rest as well. We need that time of special rest in God, however we may carry that out. For some, especially for evangelicals (my tradition) it means a daily "quiet time", or "devotions". I don't really do that myself, as far as having one special time each morning or evening or whenever. I choose to have it throughout the day, seeking to get in the word, and be in prayer throughout the day. Though when I finally get my own copy of a prayer book, I intend to use that daily, though how I'll work that into my routine I don't know, yet.

Both for our physical and spiritual strength, we need those special times of rest. I look forward to breaks and lunch at work. And I look forward to attempting to draw near to God in the word and in prayers.

And Deb and I look forward, hopefully in an opportunity in May, to go to a Benedictine retreat for a day, primarily of silence.

How do you look at "rest", and would you like to share any practices you do, and thoughts, which could help us?

an important aspect of resting

Resting certainly involves physical sleep, something I did quite a lot of, since I've been home from work, yesterday (after doing taxes, and running into difficulties in doing that, the day before!). But resting for me also involves being quiet and saying little at times, and refusing to express myself nonverbally, as well.

What I'm resting from is my own activities, be they physical, mental, even spiritual. Although this exercise of resting is rather a spiritual exercise in itself. But in so doing, I find that God is finally given room in my life to begin to get through to me, as he wants to.

I easily can take that back along the way, and fall into my own muddledness. But I can easily move back into that rest, in which I come "to myself" again in God. God again being able to break through to me. So that my words and actions can be helpful, and more "of God".

What would you like to add to this?

life's challenges

Often it seems we grow the most when faced with challenges. Challenges which are beyond us, beyond our ability to often understand or cope with. This is when we most have to lean on God. And in the process, I can be growing in significant measure in both understanding, as well as necessary change- from God. Yet those can be some of the most difficult places, as well as times, to live in. And we won't ever understand it all, nor fathom the work of God even in our own lives. A case in point from Scripture is Job.

I like it when I have some respite from challenges. Although in a true sense I see all of life as a challenge to follow on with the Lord. But we need those green pastures, and still waters, along with the restoration/refreshing of our souls. So it's good to just be able to relax and rest in God's presence as well, away from the noise and tumult of the times. I have to testify that my wife helps me immensely in that. And hopefully we are a buffer for each other through our help and prayers. Hopefully we can learn to be that way with each other in Jesus in our sojourn here.

We need to see life's inevitable challenges as opportunities to grow in Jesus. To do so as those in community with others in Jesus, and before the world. Living out together the very life of Jesus in this world. Showing the love of the Father, the image of the Son, and the life of the Spirit in a world that needs to see this.

What words or insights would you like to add to this?

back to real life

It has been a wonderful vacation for me, for Deb and I. She is back to work later today, and I on Monday. So we're back to real life again, the normal everyday, every week routine. But the rest and recreation has been good for us.

Nothing like the crucible of life helps us grow. God's work seems to be in both indicatives and imperatives. Those come together, and so we see God's word in Jesus being planted and sprouting in our lives. So that even when we may be reluctant, yet we end up wanting to change and be changed. God gives us a holy dissatisfaction with where we are, and openness to him, as to where we need to be. There is nothing like real life to help us see our dependence on God and interdependence on others.

God will be with us in Jesus by the Spirit. Always and in ways beyond us, ways we don't comprehend, as well as in ways we do, as this begins to dawn on us. Back to real life involves being in some hard, dark places at times, places in which our faith in God will be tested so that it can be refined and grow. We have to realize that, but we can be glad as well for the rest and refreshment God gives us along the way. I certainly experienced that here at home with Deb, and in Ohio visiting my mother and two sisters and their families. It was wonderful to see God's goodness in that. But we can find God's goodness in the hard places, and I find they're often hard because I need change. And I often find in those hard places that God's Presence especially becomes evident.

What about you and "real life"? And the special times of rest and refreshment? What might you like to add here?

a time to work, a time to play/rest

Yesterday's post pointed out the need to slow down. In it I was not primarily thinking of needed sabbaticals or rest stops which we all need, and often don't get enough of. I was thinking of how we work.

Rest is important. We need those times where we kick back, relax and do nothing. Nothing at all. Maybe read from a book we really want to read from, get some extra sleep, best case: get away and enjoy some of God's good creation somewhere (and here), or maybe a place less strenuous like here (or more likely for us- here- here).

Today I want to remind myself and any reader of the importance of good old fashioned work. I may need to slow down in it, but I also need to be reminded of the goodness and value of work.

Work is not post-fall, but pre-fall. God put Adam in the garden to work it, and made and brought Eve alongside him to be his helper in doing so, as well as for the procreation of more humans to inhabit and rule over the works of God's hands. Work is a big part of who we are, made in the image of God. And it will go on forever.

Of course work now is bereft with problems that are the result of sin and the fall. It's now by the sweat of our brow and with thistles and thorns (Genesis 3). It seems like no matter what we do, there's always something undermining it. It takes plenty of endurance and perseverance to see a work finished, and hopefully well done.

We must be careful in reacting to our American bent (over here) to work excessively so as to fulfill our version of "the American dream" that we don't throw work overboard in the name of our faith. Quite to the contrary we need to be known as good workers who are not negligent in their work.

I find that when I'm discouraged it's easy for me just to throw in the towel and do nothing. But in Jesus we're called to good work. We're callled to a work that will bring rest to our souls, a work in which we are side by side with our Lord himself!

To the title, balance is not such a bad word in all this. We need to have fun and play in the midst of our work. We need to know when enough is enough. And also when we need an extended rest, recreation and rehabilitation. I love to work hard on something I'm interested in. But I also love to enjoy something just for the sake of enjoying it. I don't see this as wrong, but as a part of living as one of God's children in our Father's world. And I believe that someday we'll have this down perfectly, forever. Of course not having the limitations we have now due to the fall. But what we do now in its imperfection carried along by God's grace, perfectly fulfilled in God's ongoing grace in Jesus then.

What would you like to add to this? And where would your dream vacations take you?

Tomorrow: "Palisade Cliffs - doubt", from L.L. Barkat's book, Stone Crossings: Finding Grace in Hard and Hidden Places

our humanity

Yesterday, for a time, I felt "inspired" to do something along the line of prayer, and I sensed the Holy Spirit on me in so praying. This was a good time, right in the midst of busy work, which I had to keep doing, while doing this when I could. Afterwards we had our "devotions" which I'm now leading. That went alright I thought, though by that time, right after lunch, I'm usually ready for a nap.

The rest of the day for me was one in which I felt quite tired, a little discouraged because I thought the point I brought up in devotions was not entirely well received, though I think some did appreciate it. So in the midst of my even more busy work, I tried to talk it over with one, though being encouraged by another who had been present. But mostly, I was just tired and feeling kind of low, or more like in a survival mode in which you're doing well, but could use a nap. Then finally getting home I felt completely uninspired and hit the couch to get a good snooze, which lasted for a few hours.

This reminds me of Elijah, whom none of us would compare ourselves too, though Scripture says he was as human the rest of us. Elijah, bold in the Lord, confronted the false prophets of Baal, and after their frantic prophesyings and prayers to their false god failed, he rebuilt the altar of the LORD in the sight of all Israel. And fire came down from heaven and comsumed the water drenched sacrifice he had made. But then because of Jezebel's threats, he fled for his life, and was despondent enough to ask God to end it there and then. We then see God's care, provision and word to him.

How much like us. We are human; we are weak. This up and down thing is just a part of our lives. We need during those down times to get our rest, and to be still before the Lord, to seek to hear his voice, to wait for him. And to never measure ourselves according to our experience, anyhow- whether up or down, but to ever trust in the goodness and faithfulness of our God to lead us in Jesus, through all the changes and conditions of life.

What would you like to share that could help us in this? Or any thoughts.

routine and rest

Routine and rest. I think both of these are important for us in living out the Christian life. But at the same time both often seem impossible to us, as we see from Erika Haub's wonderful post here. So for any of you in situations that resist routine and rest, we can only pray for those of you we know, that God will give you special times of rest and a sense of routine and rhythm during this time of your life and journey.

Routine is good for me. It helps me forget my troubles. It is a part of what makes us human, we have six days to work and a seventh day to rest built into the fabric of creation. So routine and rest, however played out in our experience, are important for us.

What does routine look like for you? For me it's about things I do regularly, such as getting up, reading Scripture, getting ready to go to work, etc., with prayer interspersed through all of this, hopefully. And learning to open my little "prayer book" with written lists to help me remember to pray for others and for special requests. This routine goes until evening, and an important part I'm working on now is the need for proper, or I should say, better, as in more hours of sleep.

What does rest look like for you? For me it's about hopefully getting a little time to curl up my feet and under a blanket leisurely get some reading in. And at the end of the week, it's hopefully, either Saturday or Sunday (sometimes part of Friday included), get in some significant relaxation in more reading and doing something together with Deb, and usually more sleeping than I can get during the week.

I'm not getting into the Sabbath or what that means for us today. That's a big subject, and I'm not sure of it, though I'm more sure as to what I practice in relation to it, and how I look at it in general. It has more than one application, I believe. But the important thing here in this routine and rest, is the sense of rhythm, I believe, that we as human beings need. Both in how we practice our days, weeks, months and years- and how we look at our walk of faith in this life, with the good works in Jesus following.

These words, as limited as they are, give me strength right now. I have to avoid that which is contrary to them, and which can set me off into a self-pity party or something that is neither pleasing to God or helpful to anyone, including myself.

What other words might you like to share about routine and rest?

holidays

We all like holidays and times just to rest (today being Labor Day in the United States, has become basically a day of rest or the last breath of vacation before school and Fall activitites begin or are in full swing). We need them.

At the same time I find that after some good rest, if I don't make seeking God and his will intentional during those times, then I tend to drift and lose whatever spiritual edge I may have attained to by grace before.

It seems like in the challenge of the normal daily routine, it is easier for me to be tuned in and honed on spiritual disciplines, not just because I'm practicing self-discipline, but more like because I both need and want to be living as one in Christ and in the community of God in Christ, knowing this is how I must live, and that really this is our life in Christ in this world.

Holidays, while a needed blessing I believe, also can end up being a timeout from how we live, in that sense dangerous, while in the sense of a timeout from the normal routine for rest and enjoyment, healthy.

It is especially wonderful to get out and enjoy God's good creation, and that alone can be an antidote to the dangers of drifting from God and grace during a holiday. Another good antidote is to visit family and friends around some grilling. These things can help me stay on track in God.

Too many times though, if nothing out of the ordinary is going on, and wife has to work, as has been true for us this weekend, then I must make the best of it, and seek to intentionally draw near to God in a special way. I need it!

Well, just some ramblings about holidays and really related to my struggle during this beautiful weekend and past weekends like it. I hope each of you have, or had a good day today with some fun (I'm assuming most readers will be from the United States).

How do you enjoy your holidays or vacation times? And how do you avoid the danger of drifting spiritually during those times?

tired lately

Negotiating life can be challenging at times. We have a new routine which while necessary for now, is taxing and I need to learn to get more sleep around it.

This reminds me of what I was reminded of by Lauren Winner, in her book, Real Sex: The Naked Truth about Chastity. We are humans and part of that humanity is our bodies. Because of them we have to get a certain amount of sleep, eat and drink, take a shower or bath (ha), etc.

There has been at least one version of Christianity that believed that as one grows in grace or in the Spirit, they perhaps can come to the place where they need little or no sleep at all. This sounds to me a kin to a gnostic, unbiblical error, carrying a Platonic disdain for the body which is not a mere shell of our real selves, but a part of our real selves, an indispensable part of our humanity.

In this life we get tired, have to sleep, even as Jesus did in his human life before his death and resurrection, and we die. God's answer in Christ is not some disembodied state in the clouds with celestial harps. It is the resurrection when our entire selves come to a new life in our Lord, participating fully then, in his resurrection.

Until then I need to get more sleep.