Delight-full

Isaiah 58:13a, 13c, 14a

We all know the old adage, “stop and smell the roses.”  Unfortunately, few of us ever heed the advice.  We are too busy and too engaged in our own private worlds to stop, breathe, rest, and enjoy.  There is an all-consuming pressure to produce more, earn more, and keep moving.  We find that we can always pack a little bit more into our cramped calendars.   We can work another shift.  We can make another sale.  There is money to be made and things to do and as long as I am in charge of my life, of providing and taking care of the needs of my family, of climbing the ladder at work…there is no rest for the weary.  It’s too important to stop!
 Which is precisely why so many people I meet are on the verge of collapse, emotionally, relationally, and spiritually.  In pursuit of more, they never settle into a moment of pure unhindered rest, where they are afforded the opportunity to look back over where they have been and delight over what they have done.  They don’t take time to look forward into the future to see where they are heading.  They don’t pause in the present to appreciate the gifts that God has given them, now.  As a result, blood pressure raises, marriages are strained, diets are filled with fast food and highly caffeinated products, we take anxiety and depression medicine and suffer from a wide range of intestinal problems.  But there’s more to do!  It’s too important to stop!
 Because we don’t take time to stop, we never even realize the arrogance of that statement.  

Genesis 1 tells us that God made the entire cosmos…yeah everything within it.  He laid the foundations for the land, filled up the seas and assigned their boundaries.  He gave birth to all that lives.  His voice spoke and His hand sustains.  That’s pretty important.  Yet, according to that passage, after six days of work, God rested and delighted over his creation.  He stopped and looked and rejoiced.  All was good.  No work is more important than the work of God and yet He still pauses.  

Are we that important?
 See, we fail to realize that we are wired for the rhythm of work and rest.  Six days on and one day off, that’s our rhythm.  Established by God and demanded of the people of Israel, this is supposed to be the way in which we function the best.   Why, because during that break we are reminded that the world doesn’t revolve around us and that the future is not in our hands.  We are reminded that though we have to “do”…even if we stop “doing” God continues to hold all things together.  We are reminded that if we take time, life is far richer than endless cycles of production and earning.  Life is full of things that can make us smile, relationships that are worth investing in. 

If we pause, no longer worn out, burnt out, and exhausted, we may find delight where there was once only stress...but only if we live in that rhythm.

Questions for Reflection:
1.)  As you move in and through the weekend, "Do I have time built in my life for rest and delighting in all that God has done and is doing?

2.)  As a family are we overscheduled?   Do I have trouble saying no to more demands?

3.)  How can I/we begin to create new rhythms of rest and peace in our lives?