R&R

What does rest and relaxation mean. For many, the grind of work makes them feel they are being cheated out of life so R&R means go like crazy on the weekends and whenever the opportunity affords them. Often, vacation and weekends can weaken us more so that we feel exhausted. Keep Holy the Sabbath is a commandment from God. Not for God's sake but for our sake. It was such an important commandment in 1st century Judaism, (and even today for that matter) that in Mark's Gospel, healing on the Sabbath was the incident that the religious began their plot to put Jesus to death.

For years, I played softball a couple nights a week and on most weekends. The weekends could get crazy and we would play many games. We would travel back and forth from home to the park, or after the games, there would be a social aspect of weekend tournaments in these rural communities with the firefighter picnics and going to the wee hours sometimes. There was always something happening, but in retrospect, this schedule kept me drifting farther and farther from God. It may have seemed like rest but it wasn't, and it certainly was not holy. The relationship with God dwindled and this busyness of life results in many souls even unwittingly severing ties with God. Is it a wonder that there is a crisis of faith if we do not keep the Sabbath Holy or encourage some rest with younger generations.

God commanded us to take time and relax because God knows what our body and mind can handle far better than we do. We may know our limits physically, but mentally and spiritually, our limits are exceeded far to often with bad consequences. Many people work on Sunday, but you could take another Sabbath, or a time to recharge. The Sabbath was made for worship and rest. To remain spiritual people, a day set aside for resting the mind and contemplating God is crucial. I often think why it is that the last couple of generations have drifted from God when the previous generations held it together. We live in a world where there is far more free time and far more activities and gadgets that take our minds from God and we need to be consumed with all the fun. That takes us from God and the natural progression will be to take us from any faith life and keep us immersed in ourselves and our world.