Charles Spurgeon wrote: "Rest time is not waste. It is economy to gather fresh strength. Look at the mower in the summer’s day, with so much to cut down ere the sun sets. He pauses in his labor — is he a sluggard? He looks for his stone, and begins to draw it up and down his scythe, with a rink-a-tink, rink-a-tink. Is that idle music? Is he wasting precious moments? How much might he have mowed while he has been ringing out those notes on his scythe! But he is sharpening his tool, and he will do far more when once again he gives strength to those sweeps which lay the grass prostrate in rows before him. Nor can the fisherman always be fishing; he must mend his nets. So even our vacation can be one of the duties laid upon us by the kingdom of God."
One of the areas most of us struggle with in the 21st century is intentional rest. I'm not talking about "Amusing Ourselves to Death" as suggested by Neil Postman's excellent book. I'm talking about a Sabbath mindset (even if we don't actually take an entire day as a sabbath) wherein we remove ourselves from circulation in order to reconnect with God and reconnect with the significant people in our lives. What Eugene Peterson refers to as pray and play.
We must, as Spurgeon suggests, sharpen our tools and mend our nets in order to run the race set before us (talk about mixed metaphors). We are not wasting time when we take time to rest.
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