Dear Faith Family,
I recently had the privilege of serving as a chaperone on the twin's 5th Grade Austin/San Antonio field trip, their first overnight school trip! Cohen, Lily, and their fifty-eight classmates were pumped for two days and a night away from the ordinary routines of class and home.
The trip was a blast, though I'm not sure how much Texas history we returned with! Still, we had a great time with many unexpected excitements along our fully packed schedule. From 7 am on Thursday until 9 pm on Friday, our only "downtime" was quiet moments during movies on buses packed with overstimulated children. Graciously, kids are resilient, though I'm not sure I've fully recovered!
While the non-stop schedule was exhilarating and brilliantly appropriate for our adventure (after all, a full slate of activities means less time for wandering into trouble!), such a pace is not conducive to living well--no matter what those quick-to-recover kids will tell you!
Sadly, many of us (myself included) live our days bound by over-packed schedules. Whether by choice or circumstances, or a bit of both, we go through a day and a week non-stop trying to wring the most out of life. Whether for pleasure, for profit, for purpose, or to just pull through, we go day to day and week to week, with the only downtime being momentary pauses in front of a screen.
What's more sad than our habits is the fact, as Annie Dillard once noted, "How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” We think tomorrow will be different; our schedule will change next week. But before we know it, we've lived a life (at least a more significant chunk of life than we expected) full of days filled yet, like our field trip, with little more than worn-out bodies and cheap souvenirs to show for it.
Good thing we don't have to wait until tomorrow to enter a whole and holy different rhythm. As the author of Hebrews reminds us, God "appoints a certain day, 'Today'" to participate in His rest, "therefore let us strive to enter that rest...." (Hebrews 4:7,11).
So, right now, wherever you are in your day's schedule, stop and rest with God in His work "finished from the foundation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3).
Take a deep breath, and as you breathe in, pray: God...and as you exhale, pray: With Me. Take a deep breath, and as you breathe in, pray: God At Work...and as you exhale, pray: Through Me.
Repeat the prayed breaths twice before you renter the good work you've been fashioned for in the rest created for you.
How you spend your day is how you spend your life. So today, spend it with God and with God in your work as we draw closer to a day of rest with Him.
Love you, faith family! God bless.