Thursday – Act On It – Structured Rest
I used to be really good at resting. I rock climbed, mountain biked, went running. I went to movies, read books, relaxed at home. Then I got a job! It became a lot harder when I was no longer a student. Add to that that pressures of family life – marriage and children – and […]
Wednesday – Change It – Structured Rest
So far this week, we’ve looked at rhythms for rest, but what should one actually do with that time? One author, Tim Keller, has suggested two main categories of rest. 1) Doing nothing at all. Kick your feet up. 2) Do something different from your usual work. If you work in a bank, volunteering to […]
Tuesday – Study It – Structured Rest
We have talked a lot about the need for rest…the main way we see that spoken of in the Bible is Sabbath rest – one day in seven, one year in seven. In Judaism, this was very structured and supported by cultural and societal norms. Jesus’ approach seemed to be to peel away the layers […]
Monday – A New Idea – Structured Rest
How do you rest? We all know we need rest, but that it can be hard to find, schedule, enjoy and protect. Resting doesn’t always come naturally, even though it should. That’s what we’ll look at this week, because our strategies for rest don’t always work. How many times have you said “I need a […]
Thursday – Act On It – Inner Rest
If you ask people how they are doing, how often do they include the word “busy” in their reply? We often feel we need to justify ourselves that way – I’m busy. I’m not lazy. I’m productive! This isn’t untrue, we usually are busy! But it’s not always a good form of busyness. Negative busyness […]
Wednesday – Change It – Inner Rest
We’re going to take a quick look at a passage from the Sermon on the Mount today, that we actually explored several weeks ago as part of that series. You can find it here: http://bit.ly/14LRCtP Matthew 6:28-34 ESV says: And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: […]
Tuesday – Study It – Inner Rest
A friend of mine had a baby recently – and her husband took a week or so off before heading back to work. I asked him how it was going. He said, work is alright, but it’s different now . I just don’t find it matters as much as it used to. I won’t quit […]
Monday – A New Idea – Inner Rest
Are you on vacation? If not, picture yourself there. If it helps, picture some vacation advertisements – a family walking on the beach hand in hand. A hammock and cold drink. A mountain, or a city, or whatever means rest to you! It feels good, doesn’t it? It’s proven: in a study published in Journal […]
Thursday – Act On It – Finding Rest
Our efforts to impose rest on ourselves often fail. That’s because the problem is not one of having the right tools to get things done, avoid procrastination, etc. We can use these things, but it really starts with our hearts – and there is a problem in our hearts called sin – the consequence of […]
Wednesday – Change It – Finding Rest
Yesterday we explored a story about Jesus and his followers eating grain in the fields on a Saturday, a day of rest, and getting in trouble from the religious authorities. In his response, Jesus referred to one of the great heroes of the Jewish faith, David, who ate holy bread in the temple when he […]
Tuesday – Study It – Finding Rest
In our day and age, it is hard to find rest. We are always connected and that has changed our hearts. We often feel important and needed when we can’t turn off our Blackberries, and can’t stop working. That’s today’s reality. In a different way, it was hard to find rest in Jesus’ day. It […]
Monday – A New Idea – Finding Rest
It can be very hard to find rest in our world. Between a Blackberry, kids, the home phone and social media, it can be hard to focus on anything, much less rest. One study found that people who are interrupted by technology score 20 percent lower on a standard cognition test. A second demonstrated that […]