The Importance of Rest

Isaiah 5:8-9
(8) Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.
(9) The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: "Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.

What does this passage have to do with the title of this post? It refers to the command to give the land periodic rest. In their greed the people worked the land too hard and they eventually paid the price for it. The Sabbath was serious business. God forced the people into a rest with their exile.

My pastor preached this weekend on the need to let go and take a rest. That's a hard lesson for me. My life is so tightly-packed that I have little room for rest. This is one of the reasons why I like my daily exercise so much. It is a way for me to unplug for a little while. The problem is that it is still not 1/7 of my week.

I am not legalistic about taking a full Sabbath, but I also think that I need to do a better job of unplugging and resting. To that end I actually did not review flashcards yesterday. I got a few other things done, but very little in the way of schoolwork. I think that was OK, though we'll see how the flashcards go today.

At any rate, it is clear that I need to find a way to rest more. This will be difficult during the semester, but I think it can be done. I just have to decide what can go from my life.