Over the past week or so, I have been involved in a pretty major house project. Actually, this has been something that has been going on for the past two to three weeks. My wife and I decided to finish our basement AND to paint our guest room and future nursery, and the timing of this all has worked out in such a way that it's all being done at the same time.
So about three weeks ago, we started cleaning. Two of the unfinished rooms downstairs were basically storage areas, which meant that everything had to be moved out of them. To do this, I had to reorganize the crawl storage space, which would hold a lot of the things we would be moving out. Then, we also had to clear out the two rooms that would be painted. This meant moving that stuff out to the garage or other storage places. Needless to say, there was a lot of moving of boxes and things, of which I had to move the majority, since my wife is 32 weeks pregnant.
So we got all of that cleaned out, and this past week, her dad arrived to help paint. So each day this week, after I finish my work at church, I'm going home and engaging in about 3-4 hours of painting projects in the evening. We've had to cover up one of my biggest mistakes of house ownership, that of painting the house blue originally. Blue is really hard to cover up. It means multiple coats of paint just to get things ready for the new paint, so that the blue doesn't show through.
I'm not saying all this to complain (okay, maybe a little). What all of this has shown me is the importance of rest. Normally, I try to keep at least one evening during the week and one full day to rest and relax both my mind and body. But with all these projects, I haven't had that luxury. Over the past few days, I've felt it catching up to me a bit. And that has shown me the importance of rest.
The Bible tells us that, when God created the world, He rested on the seventh day. God, being God, probably didn't really need to take a break as though He had tired Himself out. In fact, several places in the Bible speak of God's resting on that seventh day as a way of showing us our need for rest. We need to rest our bodies physically, to let them rejuvenate and recharge. We need to let our minds rest periodically, so that they stay fresh and sharp. We also need to find our rest in God spiritually with some regularity, since we are bombarded by sin, temptation, struggles, and the like as we live our lives.
I write all of this to encourage you to make regular use of rest. Rest your bodies when the opportunity comes up. Rest your minds so that you will be sharp when that is needed. Also rest in the LORD our God, who tells us to come to Him, we who are burdened and weary, and we will find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
So about three weeks ago, we started cleaning. Two of the unfinished rooms downstairs were basically storage areas, which meant that everything had to be moved out of them. To do this, I had to reorganize the crawl storage space, which would hold a lot of the things we would be moving out. Then, we also had to clear out the two rooms that would be painted. This meant moving that stuff out to the garage or other storage places. Needless to say, there was a lot of moving of boxes and things, of which I had to move the majority, since my wife is 32 weeks pregnant.
So we got all of that cleaned out, and this past week, her dad arrived to help paint. So each day this week, after I finish my work at church, I'm going home and engaging in about 3-4 hours of painting projects in the evening. We've had to cover up one of my biggest mistakes of house ownership, that of painting the house blue originally. Blue is really hard to cover up. It means multiple coats of paint just to get things ready for the new paint, so that the blue doesn't show through.
I'm not saying all this to complain (okay, maybe a little). What all of this has shown me is the importance of rest. Normally, I try to keep at least one evening during the week and one full day to rest and relax both my mind and body. But with all these projects, I haven't had that luxury. Over the past few days, I've felt it catching up to me a bit. And that has shown me the importance of rest.
The Bible tells us that, when God created the world, He rested on the seventh day. God, being God, probably didn't really need to take a break as though He had tired Himself out. In fact, several places in the Bible speak of God's resting on that seventh day as a way of showing us our need for rest. We need to rest our bodies physically, to let them rejuvenate and recharge. We need to let our minds rest periodically, so that they stay fresh and sharp. We also need to find our rest in God spiritually with some regularity, since we are bombarded by sin, temptation, struggles, and the like as we live our lives.
I write all of this to encourage you to make regular use of rest. Rest your bodies when the opportunity comes up. Rest your minds so that you will be sharp when that is needed. Also rest in the LORD our God, who tells us to come to Him, we who are burdened and weary, and we will find rest in Him (Matthew 11:28-30).
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