Rush to Rest
I was out of town and visiting a local bookstore/coffee shop in a small town. It was delightful to leisurely peruse an eclectic selection of wonderful books before I purchased a coffee and sat by the window to do a little work.
As I gazed out the window, distracted by the sunshine and people watching, a man came into the shop. He quickly walked in with a work bag on his shoulders and seemed in quite the hurry.
He ordered coffee at the counter and in the process seemed to be moving back and forth, knocking things over, like an apologetic bull in a china shop.
I sat there, not staring, but curious about what all the noise was about. In these days, many people work remotely, like me, and will often use coffee shops as a place to get work done. I thought, “He must be late for a meeting.”
I returned to my laptop and people-watching out the window as I sipped my coffee.
When I took a quick look again at the man, he was slumped cozily in his seat reading a book. He was quiet, calm and relaxed.
What did I just see?
Typically when we rush around, or we see others in that state of being, they are late because they need to be someplace. Or they are overwhelmed by all the tasks to be completed in whatever limited time frame that someone or something has set up for them.
I would typically describe the feeling as “frazzled,” or “irritated,” not “calm and at peace.”
But what if we rushed to rest?
I’ve never lived or worked in a community with a predominantly Jewish population, but I did visit Israel about this time four years ago. Ever been in a Jewish neighborhood on a Friday afternoon?
It’s like what Black Friday looked like before we bought all of our Christmas gifts online.
People are frantic, like they slept in and will miss their flight (tis the season for a Home Alone reference). A trip to the grocery store, post office or that last work task must be done and everyone is to arrive home before sun down. Why?
Jewish Sabbath begins at dusk on Friday evening. Anything that required effort these past six days would come to a halt for 24 hours. They are rushing to rest.
Huh?
I’ve discovered that people are always busy. If it’s not the holiday season, it’s still a time filled with appointments, errands and activities. Why do we feel the need to fill our time with something?
But what if we spent our time rushing to rest? And what if we didn’t get everything done and took a break anyway?
God spent six days creating the world. He gave us gift after gift of light, stars, rivers and greenery. He created everything we needed and then He rested.
God didn’t need the rest, but he gifted it to us because he knew it would be important to this earthly life. Even after the first act of disobedience, God still loved us and gave us everything we needed.
As we begin a new year, with desired resolutions we hope to keep, let’s resolve to release our expectations when it comes to productivity. God’s desire for us is not to be super productive every single day. God sent his Son for us, and gave us not only that gift, but opportunities to share that gift.
God commands us to “love Him and our neighbor” (Matt. 22:37-39);
God calls us to “Go and make disciples” (Matthew 28:20);
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:3)
The world will tell us to move on from this season as quickly as it began. May the gift of the Christ child and the eternal rest He brings, slow you down enough for others to notice, giving you the opportunity to share the Gospel.