"Time flies when your having fun!" so the phrase goes. But I have realised that I haven't blogged since 7th December, which is very poor. So Happy New Year to you all...a little belatedly though. The great thing about this time of year for me is that the winter is pretty much over and now I can look forward to the joys of Spring and hopefully a decent Summer. The bible says that hope deferred makes the heart sick! Well for the last three or four years I have hoped for a great sunny summer and for three or four years my heart has been sick! So this year I am not getting my hopes up even though I am an eternal optimist. I read this recently that while the optimist and the pessimist were arguing about the whether the glass was half empty or half full, the opportunist came along and drank it! We can waste so much time looking to the future and wondering what will happen next, that we lose sight of today. There are so many great things happening in our time now that we need to just stop and take it all in. That is what rest is all about. God took six days to make everything. However at the end of each day He stopped and admired what He had done and took pleasure in it. And then at the end of the week He took a whole day out to look at everything and enjoy His handiwork! We are busy, busy, busy. There is a culture of busyness that pervades society. I hear people boasting about how busy they are. They list all the things that they do in a day that seems to go on and on. And then their friend, not wanting to be out-busied, lists their very busy items that they have accomplished that day. I think that a lot of the time God is sitting on the edge of His throne shouting: "STOP!!! Take a chill pill." God commands us to rest. He tells us to take time out and review all that has been accomplished and actually enjoy what we have done. To enjoy our amazing family. To enjoy our amazing handiwork and to enjoy His even more amazing handiwork. Martha was a classic example of busyness. Flap, flappity flap, goes Martha. "I'm serving the Lord! I'm busy doing things for Him so that He will be pleased with me!" "Jesus, look at me. I'm flat out on my feet, whereas my lazy lump of a sister is just sitting at your feet doing nothing!" Martha is expecting a - Well done Martha from Jesus. But what she gets is -
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10)
There you go. Did you get that? Only one thing is needed. One thing! And that is - Stop, sit down at Jesus' feet and listen to him.
Now of course we need to work. We need to do the daily stuff at home. All of that is important. But the main thing we need to do is hang out with Jesus. He sustains all things by his powerful word. His word is our sustenance. Therefore, we need to stop what we are doing and munch on some of his words by sitting at his feet and listening. This is rest! Today I hold my hands up and confess that I am too busy and that is not a noble thing. Chitty, stop for a bit and take a deep breath, look at the view and see how awesome it is and how great out heavenly Dad is.
