The Sabbath Rain

After returning home from church, I enjoyed a quick lunch, then sat down with Maggie the Wonder Dog for a snuggle and to decide what needed to be done first.  I have a to-do list that's a mile long, and I don't want to do any of it. Well, that's not entirely true. I want it all done. I don't really mind doing it. I just don't want to tackle such a big job all at once. Of course everything needs to be done by later this week (company's coming), so I don't really have much choice. Despite how big I am on honoring the Sabbath, I had begun to think I might need to make an exception today. 

Almost all my tasks on the list begin by hauling the Christmas decorations in from the storage house. I started it yesterday, but somehow the green and red boxes seem to have been reproducing in there this year. I didn't even make a dent in the stacks! What I'm going to do with whatever is in all those boxes is not clear, so now I'm hesitant to even tackle the job. 

Here's how I envisioned this work proceeding: I would roll my wagon to the storage house, pile on a few boxes, haul them to the house, dump them in the living room, then head back for more. A ladder was an integral part of the plan.  Hauling boxes down while perched on a ladder brings back bad memories of falling peanut butter jars and broken hands, so I decided to wait for Bill the Magnificent. The most wonderful thing happened. Bill the Magnificent decided to take a Sabbath. He's just feeding livestock today. 

I piddled around a bit, then came back downstairs to start loading boxes. Can you believe it? A steady rain was falling. 

No Bill. Steady rainfall. No boxes getting moved today. No boxes getting unpacked today. No decorations going up. Can you believe it? I have been forced into a Sabbath rest after all! How wonderful is that?  Instead of working on the to-do list, I spent time resting, playing with Maggie the Wonder Dog, and reading. What a wonderful Sabbath rest I've had, courtesy of the Sabbath rain that kept me inside!

The list still needs to be done, and I still have company coming, but tomorrow I will start back rested and refreshed. I think it will make the week much easier. Tonight, I'm saying my thank you's for the pesky Sabbath rain that called a halt to my busyness and gave me the Sabbath rest I desperately needed. I hope you are rested as well. 

Have a Christ-filled week!

Quick Rain

“Hey mom can you believe this?  In three seconds it started raining.”  Ryan was incredulous.  “When I walked outside to get the cat’s bowl, it wasn’t raining.  When I walked back out with his food, it was.  Can you believe it could start raining so fast?”  I laughed.  “Yes, Ryan I really can believe it.  I think God likes to work fast like that sometimes.  Do you know what Proverbs says?”  I asked.  “It says that people who are doing wrong will be broken in a moment.  Just as quick as that.  God will let them keep doing bad things for a while, but when they least expect, he will move and break them.”  “Break?  Like a broken glass?”  He laughed as he thought about how that would look.  “No Ryan, not like a glass.  He means that the consequences of the wrong they’ve done will come when they least expect it.   They will be thinking, ‘This didn’t get me in trouble after all.’  They will think the wrong things didn’t really matter.  As fast as can be, they will find out it did matter in the end.”  

“There’s another time God said he would act fast.  Jesus said that He would come back “in a twinkling of an eye”.  As fast as you can blink He’ll come back and we’ll be changed and go to heaven with Him.  That’s why it’s so important to do right.  I sure don’t want to be doing wrong when he comes, do you?”  “Me either,” he agreed.

What about you?  Are you choosing to do what’s right or what’s wrong?  Have you been doing wrong so long that it seems like the only way?  That your actions don’t really matter? Does it seem you’ve “gotten away with” your choices?  Maybe you need to rethink that.  God says that, when we least expect it, the consequences of wrong choices will come.  We won’t like them, but it will be too late.  

Maybe you’ve begun to think that relief will never come.  Maybe you’re in a hard time that seems as if it will never end.  Does it seem as if all God’s promises are on hold?  As if He will never move for you?  Just hold on a little longer.  As fast as the blink of an eye, He can move.  One day, He’ll come back for His children.  Don’t despair.  When you least expect it, as fast as can be, you’ll be going home.   Are you ready for the trip?