By W. Jay Tyree
College Hill Church of Christ 

Spiritually Speaking

Time and rest

 

April 12, 2019



Life has been going by rather quickly as of late. Friends of mine, more senior than myself, assure me that time speeds up as we age. Forgive me, but I’m not sure how that makes any sense. Perhaps it has something to do with how long it takes to perform a certain task. As long as I can remember, mowing the yard was a job that took about an hour. Now, it takes about a week – give or take a few minutes. As a result, my internal clock records the hour it should be taking but the Earth refuses to slow down to accommodate my fantasy.

I am learning to let go and rest. As you might imagine, being a preacher is not the most physically demanding job in town but it does carry a certain amount of stress and more than enough deadlines to be met. On Monday evening, I was thinking about a bunch of papers that needed to be graded, a sermon that needed to be “fleshed out” for next Sunday, two classes for Tuesday and, yes, a yard that needed to be mowed (mown?). I happened to look at the clock at five minutes until five and the truth dawned on me: “Life is like a video game. If you don’t get to the end, just save your progress and start over tomorrow – and, every time Kupa bounces on your head, you learn what not to do.”

There’s some strong Bible truth to back up my Nintendo theology. James says we should count it all joy when we encounter various trials, since the trying of our faith produces patience (James 1:2-3) and the Hebrew writer would remind us that rest has always been part of the pattern for the faithful. Someday, those who trust His amazing grace will enter into God’s eternal rest (see chapter 4). For now, we’ll rest when we can and mow when we must. See you Sunday.

 

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