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Isaiah 32:18
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in
secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
We have a small couch in our family room that we
call the “tranquilizer couch.” We call it that because if I lay down in that
particular couch for more than 15 minutes I invariably fall asleep. I don’t nap
for long, usually only about 15 minutes, but it doesn’t matter if it’s in the
morning, afternoon or evening, that couch always puts me to sleep! It’s the
“tranquilizer couch!”
I used to make fun of people who took naps. For
most of my life I couldn’t take a nap if I tried. I saw nap-taking as a waste
of time; as time frittered away that could be used to do something useful.
Not anymore.
Now my boys make fun of me. I’m the guy snoozing
with mouth hanging open during the 3rd quarter of the Bulls game. I
have two excuses for my new-found napping behavior. First, I am older and my
energy level just isn’t what it once was. But second, I point to the prophet
Isaiah:
My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in
secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.
Do you know that God is pro-rest? The book of
Genesis tells us that on the seventh day God rested from his work of creation.
Think about that. Did God rest because he was tired? Of course not! God rested
because he wanted to give us a model for the rest he knew we would need as
beings created in his image. So he gave us what the Old Testament calls
“Sabbath” – that is, permission to cease our work and our striving for a whole
day just to rest in his presence, goodness and grace.
This isn’t the place to debate the various ways
we might interpret and experience “Sabbath rest” in our lives today, but the
words of Isaiah do hint that at least part of that rest should take place in
our homes.
And rest is more than just a nap on the
tranquilizer couch. Rest, in the Biblical sense, refers to much more than
physical rest – although it certainly is that. Rest includes the spiritual,
emotional and relational parts of our lives as well.
So, how do we do it? How do we manage to get off
the ever accelerating treadmill of our North American, suburban world, and find
the rest that Isaiah is talking about?
The first thing we can learn to do is to say no.
John Ortberg suggests the most important spiritual challenge of our lives is to
“ruthlessly eliminate hurry from our lives.” Part of this is learning to say no
to activities, opportunities and responsibilities that may be good, but may also be that which clutter rather than clarify our lives. Sometimes we can feel
guilty about having “free time” or “down time” – when that kind of time is
actually what we need to protect most! Learn to say no!
Next, you might also consider “unplugging” every
now and then. By “unplugging” I mean turning off the TV; closing the laptops
and putting away the smart phones. I saw a statistic the other day that said
the average adolescent spends 9 hours a day with media. You’ll be surprised how
much time there is when media are turned off! See what happens when your family
just sits and talks. Try playing a game. Get out old photo albums or
scrapbooks. Play charades. Play music and have a dance contest. Remember how to
have fun together! I believe fun is a form of rest that rejuvenates the soul.
Finally, do whatever you have to do to have
meals together at the family table. Turn the TV off; put the cell phones in
another room; and eat a meal together. If you’re not sure what to talk about –
just have each person share the high point and low point of their day. You’ll
be surprised what you learn about each other just by that simple exercise. You
might even be surprised by a spontaneous conversation!
We all live life on the treadmill that our
culture creates for us. But we can learn, with God’s help, to slow the
treadmill down to a reasonable pace, even to get off altogether every now
and then.
Ask God to help you make your home an
“undisturbed place of rest” for all who dwell therein.
Pastor Brian Coffey
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1 comment:
Having dinners together truly requires a sacrifice. On the part of the parents, who have to make sure they're home from work on time, have planned a meal, that someone is assigned to cooking it. And on the part of the kids, who may rather be with friends (if they are teens!), and who may have friends that wonder why they don't do more sports & clubs, and what's the big deal about being home?! The big deal is the 30 - 60 minutes of "push-back" time that follows the dinner at the table, when we lean back in our chairs and nobody really wants to leave, and we just talk about all sorts of interesting subjects -ones we parents never expected would come up! It's one of the biggest blessings of our family, both children and adults agree! And one of the biggest reasons our college student misses home, I believe. And there's one more sacrifice that the parents must make: LET the kids NOT do those clubs and sports. Stop comparing your kids with your super-achiever, scholarship-competiting neighbors in our high-priced, cookie-cutter suburban world. :P If you want a child that is exceptional, raise one who can talk intelligently with adults, and who has a relationship with you that is rooted in deep sharing about things that matter. :) We mess up as parents in a myriad of other ways, but I am thankful that we have always done donners together. I recommend a book written by a local Christian: Death By Suburb by David Goetz.
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