Go Waste Some Time

-
I've been doing a lot of reading on Sabbath keeping in order to prepare this Sunday's message. I've been skimming through Mark Buchanan's book The Rest of God: Restoring Your Soul by Restoring Sabbath. GREAT STUFF!

I particularly like the chapter called Play: Stopping Just to Waste Time. Why? Because he recommends to his readers to go and read a comic book! Ok. That's not the only reason. Play is such a big part of our lives as kids... and somewhere, somehow that goes away with the increased demands on our lives.

It's interesting how it even affect how I play with my own kids... We love family game night in our house... but I find myself so scheduled with it sometimes that it can actually take the fun out of it. I begin to stress about it when we've passed bedtime... or if there are other things on my mind... or worrying that I should be finishing the basement. In those times, play just doesn't feel like play. It feels like obligation.

God has given us permission to not be productive 100% of our waking hours. He has given us this incredible world to enjoy. He has given us friends and family to enjoy. He has given us himself to enjoy. I definitely want to get better at wasting more time :)

How about you? How does play recharge your soul?

Popular posts from this blog

Wellness Journey Update

-
Image
  In early April 2020, I decided to take better care of my health. Actually, the decision was made on January 1st, 2020. It just took me time and a month of lockdown in my basement to get me to do something about it. My focus was to care for myself physically, emotionally/mentally, and spiritually. In the first year of the journey, I saw some significant changes. I dropped nearly 60 pounds of weight, reduced back pain, and began sleeping through the night for the first time in my adult life! I also did some great work with my Christian therapist to strengthen my mental health. I began deepening my walk with Christ through strengthening devotions and intentional mentoring. As I experienced these blessings, my hope was to pass along these blessings to others. I became certified as a DDPY Fitness Level 1 Instructor and a FastTrack coach.  While there were blessings, there were also challenges. Particularly in the area of whether my involvement in particular exercise programs was ...
Read more

Sabbatical Planning

-
Image
  I'm BACK!! What a season of ministry this has been! Over the past year, I have talked with many leaders from churches, para-church ministries, and businesses, and many say the same thing: "I'm still recovering from the craziness of the pandemic four years later!" Does this resonate with you? It definitely has for me! While this past year has seen some INCREDIBLE moves of God and great blessings, it was also filled with many challenges, divisions, spiritual attacks, and a lot of weariness. Thankfully, God has given us many spiritual disciplines to help us overcome this weariness in our souls: Sabbath and Sabbatical. In October 2023 the craziness of the pandemic in the life of our church and family finally caught up to me. I was tired. More tired than I had ever been. Every decision in my role at the church felt heavy and filled with doubt. While my spiritual life was deep and I felt very close to God, a nagging voice would speak into my thoughts that it was time to t...
Read more

Back from Catalyst!

-
Image
WOW!!!! That's all can say right now! Yesterday experience at Catalyst was just incredible! And I gotta admit... God really wrecked me! I've never felt closer to God than I did on my knees yesterday, crying in his presence! I'm still processing all that God had to say to me through this event. I'll be blogging about it next week as it all becomes clearer. I'm so grateful to everyone involved in putting on Catalyst One Day! Thanks to Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel for just bringing it!! I was so encouraged and minister to. Picked up Craig's new book, The Christian Atheist. Started reading it this afternoon! Was awesome to meet him and others from the LifeChurch.tv team. Their ministry has been such a wonderful blessing to me in my personal walk with God. When people ask who pastors me, Craig Groeschel is on the top of that list. Praising God today for all that he has in store for me and my journey with Him! (Picture of Danielle and I with Craig...
Read more