Fridays are the new Monday...Sorta

For many years, while serving the Santa Margarita Community Church, I took Mondays as a day of rest. Not a day off, as we Americans think of it (running errands, mowing lawns, doing chores, etc.) No, this was a day of disconnecting from the normal everyday experiences of life in order to connect with God and my family.

Since the move to Orange County, this has been difficult to duplicate because of the two part-time ministries. The demands and unique schedules of each are such that it has been difficult to carve out an entire day.

I still haven't found an entire day, but I've found a half day. Friday mornings. I read. I pray. I listen to music. I blog. I unplug from the usual demands of life in the twenty-first century. To some it may seem a "waste" of time. But at the beginning of the twentieth century, Charles Spurgeon, the prince of preachers, 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."

Eventually I hope to have an entire day again. But for now I'll take what I can get. It brings new meaning to "Thank God it's Friday."