I’ve been putting off writing my review of Dan Allender’s Sabbath primarily because I’m still trying to piece together in my mind all that I’ve read. What is that struck me the most? Did Allender answer my questions about the often unheeded fourth commandment? Did he challenge my previous ideas about a simple day off?
In my “Simplifying” post a couple weeks ago I wrote about rest and how it looks different for everyone. Except sleep. Sleep is universal. We all need it. Some of us have a hard time getting it. ... I hadn’t looked much at the weather yet, so I didn’t know what we had in store for us. Though we left early (1 pm), it was slow going to Cleveland, and we barely had enough time to set up before people started arriving.
Standing there in his shop, I concluded that Edison may be entirely responsible for our hectic pace of life more than a century later. That we can work all hours into the night, instead of retiring to bed with the setting of the sun, is largely due to artificial light. I write this in a dimly-lit coffee house staring at a back-lit LCD screen. Even the keys on my notebook computer are softly lit. ... In this post I’ll focus on simplifying and embracing rest, and in my next post I’ll offer some tips for tackling your to-do list.
Artists can be so hard on themselves. I believe this accompanies artistic talent, pushing us to reach for higher heights in art. And as Christian artists, we should want, like court musicians, to play our best for our great King and Master Artist. If not for perfectionism would any of the great artists (musicians, painters, writers, poets, dancers, actors, photographers, sculptors, etc.) have produced the masterpieces we treasure today? If not for perfectionism, wouldn’t art be mediocre? Wouldn’t all singing be a karaoke performance?
A few weeks ago I wrote in “Mufasa’s Boy” how a boy needs the approval of his father, to hear the words, “I’m proud of you, Son.” Since I grew up without a father playing an active role in my life, I think I may long for that approval more than others might. But then, fatherlessness is an epidemic many in my generation are dealing with still. We fatherless grew up without dads, and now in our 30’s many are struggling as fathers.
Sunday afternoon in our home has a feel and a sound to it. Sadly, I know too many people who fill their weekends with nonstop activity, whether because they’ve taken on too much labor and activities or don’t know how to rest. Living life with no periods. For us, Sunday afternoon is a nice three-hour period. A punctuation mark to end the week.
Last year I became a statistic. I’m sure I was already one of some sort. You probably heard of the tens of thousands who lost their jobs due to the recession, or at least under the guise of the recession. Whatever the case, I found myself with a few months, the length of my severance,…
