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Relaxation

“Be still, and know that I am God”  Psalm 46:10

The summer season is a time when many people contemplate relaxation.  The warmth in the air, the fragrant smell of the flowers, and the calm weather cause us to think about the importance of balance and restoring our energies.

The hectic pace of our culture often takes its toll on our bodies, minds, and spirits.  Many of us don’t take enough time to enjoy each day the Lord has provided.  It seems to me we need to find ways to take more minute vacations or short breaks to reflect on the blessings in our lives.

I’m reminded of the biography of Mary Slessor.  Slessor was a modern missionary who left Scotland at the turn of the twentieth century to go to a part of Africa that was then infested with disease and indescribable danger.  The woman had an indomitable spirit and kept going when lesser men and women, living under the crushing pressures, broke down, ran, and never came back.  Once, after a particularly draining day, she found herself trying to sleep in a crude jungle hut.  The following day in her journal she wrote:
           
I am not very particular about my bed these days, but as I lay on a few dirty sticks laid across and covered with a litter of dirty corn-shells, with plenty of rats and insects, three women and an infant three days old alongside, and over a dozen sheep and goats and cows outside, you don’t wonder that I slept little.  But I had such a comfortable quiet night in my own heart.

As Gordon MacDonald says, “There must be a quiet place where all is in order, a place from which comes the energy that overcomes turbulence and is not intimidated by it.”  Where is that place for you?  Jesus often broke away from the crowds and his disciples to have time alone with God.  

Christ’s advice to his disciples makes good sense for all of us struggling with balance. “The apostles gathered around Jesus and reported to him all they had done and taught. Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” So they went away by themselves in a boat to a solitary place.”  Mark 6:30-32

Take time to find those quiet places where you can spend quality time with Jesus.  It will refresh you and give you a new perspective.

Have a great week.  Jim