The Snow Sabbath
This week's big winter weather event was a gift to my family in more ways than one.
Wow! What a winter storm we experienced. This has certainly been the biggest blast of winter weather that I've experienced since living here in Georgia and our family has thoroughly enjoyed it. The kids, of course, loved playing in the snow. They made a huge snow man and tried to make a snow fort, but what our family enjoyed even more than frolicking in the snow was the rest.
The ice and snow forced us to stay at home and it caused all our normally planned whirl of activities, such as karate, horses and swimming, to be scrapped. The snow, in effect, caused our family to slow down, rest, and enjoy one another. We slept in on those cold morning, we had a nice warm fire going in the fireplace every day, we sat around drinking hot chocolate, reading, playing games, and delighting in one another.
It's ironic that during Christmas "break" we were so busy running around, doing things for the church and going to Christmas events that we never rested. We came out of the Christmas holiday season more exhausted than when we went in. Essentially this snow week gave us the Christmas rest that we missed and that we sorely needed.
Rest is important to God. Rest should be important to God's people. The Bible says that God rested on the seventh day after creating all things (Gen. 2:2). It says that he set a day of rest apart, a Sabbath, and wants His people to observe it. The Bible also says that we are created in God's image (Gen. 1:27), meaning we are to be people who value rest and observe rest just as He did. Unfortunately, in today's world of hectic schedules, instant messages, car pools and status updates we so easily forget to rest.
We need to remember that God is the one who designed rest. He designed it for His glory and for our good. Joy is found in rest. That's why I am thankful that God imposed a period of rest upon all of us this past week, I know I needed it, and hopefully it won't take another huge weather event to remind us that we need to be people who rest.
For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel,
“In returning and rest you shall be saved;
in quietness and in trust shall be your strength.” (Isaiah 30:15)
