All Who Are Weary

The brother who started the church that I'm a part of always encouraged us to take breaks when we need them. Spiritual life grows in seasons, he taught us, and you cannot make Life flow when it is not in season. That would be like trying to make new leaves in the dead of winter. And because we are not under the delusion that a person has to be "on" all the time, we give each other permission to rest from time to time. Let the soil of our hearts lie fallow for a while until the Life returns and is ready to produce its fruit once again.

Everything in God's creation works that way. Hardly ANYTHING in Man's creation works that way. We like things to be available all the time. Switch on your lights. Crank up the heat. TiVo that show and watch it whenever you want. We hate waiting for anything, and seasons seem to have meaning only in sports and fashion. For most things, we expect constant performance. Not so with the Lord.

So I'm taking a few weeks off of church meetings. The saints I meet with give me no brow-beatings because they, too, understand that God works in seasons. Sometimes you need to rest. Regroup. Recharge. Recenter. Rediscover that you know the Lord whether you are with other believers or by your self. Everyone needs this once in a while. I wish preachers had this luxury. What a difference it would make in the quality of the ministry that they bring!

Since I won't be flapping my gums much in front of the folks that live around me (my church lives close together by design), I guess I'll be writing more! Just a couple short posts after saying that writing well and living well don't always go together :-)