Nice Memorial Day Weekend
Posted by Chris
Well, it's not quite over, but thought I'd write down my thoughts about the weekend before I got too tired later & crashed in bed.
This has been a really nice Memorial Day weekend. Probably the nicest I can remember in recent memory. We have spent a lot of time relaxing, swimming, playing Paper Mario, reading, napping, & the like. I probably have slept more in the last 24 hours than I have at any other given 24-hour period thus far this year.
If you know me very well at all you know that I don't take to sleep all that well. It is hard for me to "waste" time napping, and I have been known to burn the candle at both ends more times than not. I think something in me is changing, though. Every since moving to Nashville 2 1/2 years ago, and subsequently beginning a work day that starts at 5 am each weekday morning, I have slowly gotten to the place where it is easier to let myself to go sleep earlier at night. Not that I go to bed as early as I should most nights, but it is at least much more likely these days than it has probably ever been. Case in point: the last 24 hours.
Last night we took the family for a surprise trip to the Stardust Drive-In to watch Shrek 3 (good movie - not as good as the first two, but still worth the ticket). We got home about 11pm & I promptly crashed in bed. Some 10 hours later I awoke, all the kids already in the pool and Andrea eating breakfast on the deck. It was nice to take my time waking up - allowing myself to drift in & out of sleep until I finally made up my mind that it was time to start my day.
Then, later in the afternoon, after having been outside most of the day (which invariably makes me tired), I grabbed a book and laid in the hammock to relax & read for awhile. About 10 minutes later I was out and probably napped for a good 20 minutes or so.
I am often reminded of Psalm 23 when it says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures." I think I've only recently begun to understand the first part of that verse - "He makes me lie down..." I think sabbath rest is something that is still too foreign to me. I think there is something at the heart of God, though, and in us, His creation, that is bent on rest - that knows the intrinsic value of putting your feet up and set aside the man-made pressures of our everyday lives - at least for a short time. And when we don't rest - I think He finds a way to build it into our lives.
I'm glad that I'm learning to lie down on my own a little more.
This has been a really nice Memorial Day weekend. Probably the nicest I can remember in recent memory. We have spent a lot of time relaxing, swimming, playing Paper Mario, reading, napping, & the like. I probably have slept more in the last 24 hours than I have at any other given 24-hour period thus far this year.
If you know me very well at all you know that I don't take to sleep all that well. It is hard for me to "waste" time napping, and I have been known to burn the candle at both ends more times than not. I think something in me is changing, though. Every since moving to Nashville 2 1/2 years ago, and subsequently beginning a work day that starts at 5 am each weekday morning, I have slowly gotten to the place where it is easier to let myself to go sleep earlier at night. Not that I go to bed as early as I should most nights, but it is at least much more likely these days than it has probably ever been. Case in point: the last 24 hours.
Last night we took the family for a surprise trip to the Stardust Drive-In to watch Shrek 3 (good movie - not as good as the first two, but still worth the ticket). We got home about 11pm & I promptly crashed in bed. Some 10 hours later I awoke, all the kids already in the pool and Andrea eating breakfast on the deck. It was nice to take my time waking up - allowing myself to drift in & out of sleep until I finally made up my mind that it was time to start my day.
Then, later in the afternoon, after having been outside most of the day (which invariably makes me tired), I grabbed a book and laid in the hammock to relax & read for awhile. About 10 minutes later I was out and probably napped for a good 20 minutes or so.
I am often reminded of Psalm 23 when it says, "He makes me lie down in green pastures." I think I've only recently begun to understand the first part of that verse - "He makes me lie down..." I think sabbath rest is something that is still too foreign to me. I think there is something at the heart of God, though, and in us, His creation, that is bent on rest - that knows the intrinsic value of putting your feet up and set aside the man-made pressures of our everyday lives - at least for a short time. And when we don't rest - I think He finds a way to build it into our lives.
I'm glad that I'm learning to lie down on my own a little more.
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