Monday, May 21, 2007
Sunshine State
Saturday, May 12, I woke up early, finished writing and turned in my final paper and the semester was over. Relief overwhelmed me. I have had so much on my plate for the past month and I have enjoyed it all, but i am glad to lighten my load a little. So, here I sit a little more than a week later at the only wifi place I am aware of in Pensacola (Panera Bread) next to the woman who will be my wife in 89 days and just enjoying a rest. Sure, we're thinking about and talking about wedding plans and all the work that goes into that, but it is really nice to have an actual vacation.
Which, like most things, brings me back to scripture. Of the 10 commandments, I think that Christians have the hardest time with the fourth which is to keep the sabbath or seventh day as a holy day and to do no work in it. Of all the commandments, it has the least logical basis. Worship only God Almighty who has delivered the Israelites from Egypt? Sure, that makes sense. Don't steal or murder or even covet? Those make sense from a moral point of view. Honor your parents? Sometimes we can balk at that, but they have lived longer than we have and probably have a good idea about how to better our lives. So, there's logic there, too. But don't work on the seventh day? The scripture says to do so because God created in 6 days, but on the seventh He rested, but that seems like odd logic.
I like the idea that it has to do with our natural cycles as humans. We need a day to rest from our work to remain healthy, the same way we need 7-8 hours of sleep. We can go with less rest than we should have, but we're going to feel the consequences. And maybe it's more than just a physical stress that is relieved. Maybe our souls need to rest from our toil so that we can remember on a regular basis that we are more than the works of our hands. Is that something so important that if God had 10 things He wanted to tell us about how we should live our lives that He would include the command to rest in that number? Apparently.
And so, for a little week, I will be enjoying a time of rest. With my fiancee. At my parents house in Pensacola. The place that will always be home, but is in the process of losing some of the meaning of that word. In other words, it is really nice to bring my new home to see my old home.
Rest well.
Which, like most things, brings me back to scripture. Of the 10 commandments, I think that Christians have the hardest time with the fourth which is to keep the sabbath or seventh day as a holy day and to do no work in it. Of all the commandments, it has the least logical basis. Worship only God Almighty who has delivered the Israelites from Egypt? Sure, that makes sense. Don't steal or murder or even covet? Those make sense from a moral point of view. Honor your parents? Sometimes we can balk at that, but they have lived longer than we have and probably have a good idea about how to better our lives. So, there's logic there, too. But don't work on the seventh day? The scripture says to do so because God created in 6 days, but on the seventh He rested, but that seems like odd logic.
I like the idea that it has to do with our natural cycles as humans. We need a day to rest from our work to remain healthy, the same way we need 7-8 hours of sleep. We can go with less rest than we should have, but we're going to feel the consequences. And maybe it's more than just a physical stress that is relieved. Maybe our souls need to rest from our toil so that we can remember on a regular basis that we are more than the works of our hands. Is that something so important that if God had 10 things He wanted to tell us about how we should live our lives that He would include the command to rest in that number? Apparently.
And so, for a little week, I will be enjoying a time of rest. With my fiancee. At my parents house in Pensacola. The place that will always be home, but is in the process of losing some of the meaning of that word. In other words, it is really nice to bring my new home to see my old home.
Rest well.
