IT’LL BE THERE TOMORROW

One of the benefits of this universal slowdown because of the virus, even when at times it became a shutdown, is that we are all finding time to spare. Early on a small group of men, all retired, got together on Zoom. There were six or seven of us who logged on. We spent almost two hours talking about what was going on in our lives and how we were coping with basically being home-bound.

Four weeks later when we met again, we spent a little more than an hour taking and sharing. Four weeks after that we were together for less that forty-five minutes. Why? We simply did not have that much to talk about. The virus had kept us mostly locked in at home. Given all the free time we had because we social distanced only when we absolutely had to, we had completed all the work we needed to do around the house that we had been putting off. In that sense the virus did us a lot of good and pleased our spouses in the process.

Sooner or later, hopefully sooner, our restrictive lifestyles will be over and we will be free to going back to the good old ways and days, which means filling up all those minutes which, during the virus allowed and even forced us to rest and relax, something our culture tends to frown upon. We seem to buy into the adage that an idle mind and body is the devil’s workshop. It isn’t.

God gave us the commandment to keep a sabbath rest for a reason. While we may think the devil loves an idle mind and body, it is just the opposite. When we are too tired, too exhausted, to think and act properly, we think and act improperly. We make the wrong decisions. We say things we, in hindsight, regret. If we hadn’t been so tired, if we had thought before we spoke, if, if, if.

The truth is that most of what we think must be done today can wait until tomorrow, most,

not all. What that means is that we truly do not have any excuse for not taking sabbath

rests. That means once a week, regularly, not randomly. We know this is possible because

we have been keeping sabbath in one way or another all these months. My guess is that

most of those who have been infected have acted as if there was nothing to worry about.

Yes, keeping safe is no guarantee we will be safe. Not doing so means we won’t be.

 

Keeping sabbath is a good and Godly (by God) way to stay healthy and refreshed and

relaxed. It is no guarantee that we won’t get sick. But it is God’s reminder that good health

is only possible when we take the time to rest, relax and get in tuned with our body and

mind and our God.

 

I know I am beating a dead horse. But a horse can only go so far before it has to stop and

rest. So do we. As we enter a new year, perhaps resolving to take a weekly sabbath rest and

actually doing so may be the one good result of this virus. A Happy and Healthy 2021.