My family is on vacation this week in Michigan. Nancy\u2019s dad owned a house in the little village of Lexington for many years and upon his death, this home became the possession of Nancy and her siblings. Lexington sits on Lake Huron and served for many years as an escape for people from the cities to come for cool and relaxation during the sweltering hot summers. There are no major attractions within one-hour and thirty minutes, so there is a lot of time spent playing, dominoes, board games, pickleball, soccer, wiffle ball, reading, drawing, writing, etc. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The stepping out of the busyness of life and entering a time of rest, recreation, and renewal is difficult in our fast-paced lives. Henri Nouwen in his book Making All Things New<\/em> writes, \u201cOur lives seem like over-packed suitcases bursting at the seams. In fact, we are almost always aware of being behind schedule\u201d (23). It seems in our being behind schedule and our suitcase being overpacked, we tend to seek ways to escape the inner turmoil, busyness, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. We, like the plate spinner, tend to not want the plates to drop, so we don\u2019t know where to begin on finding rest, renewal, and refreshment during the struggle. We feel like we are too busy to add rest to our lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n God built into us a need for rest and renewal. Our bodies are made for a rhythm of work and rest. We must make it a priority to step out of the stream of busyness and experience the power of rest. Charles Hummel in his book Tyranny of the Urgent<\/em> writes, \u201cWhen we stop long enough to think about it, we realize that our dilemma goes deeper than shortage of time; it is basically a problem of priorities.\u201d Jesus invites us to come out of the scurry of more \u201cto do\u201d and sit with him for a while. In Matthew 11:28, \u201cCome to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Are you taking time to rest, relax, and renew in your daily life? Are you experiencing the powerful rhythm of work and rest? Do you hear the beckoning and invitation of Jesus to come to him for rest? Take time today (and every day) to experience the beautiful rhythm of work and rest and discover God\u2019s presence with you as you prioritize rest and renewal in your daily life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prayer: Lord, I am busy. I confess I have prioritized work to meet the expectations of success in today\u2019s culture. Forgive me and open my ears to your beckoning and invitation to come to you for rest. I need your rest and renewal in my life. Thank you for your faithfulness. In Jesus\u2019 name I pray. Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My family is on vacation this week in Michigan. Nancy\u2019s dad owned a house in the little village of Lexington for many years and upon his death, this home became the possession of Nancy and her siblings. Lexington sits on<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6376,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6304","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t