So... I'm back!
I, unfortunately, missed the past couple of days. My mind has been focused on finishing my last two exams and now... I'M DONE!
Completely done.
IB no more!
It was an absolutely incredible feeling to walk out of the exam room for the last time.
It will be a less incredible feeling when I sign out next week, but, in the meantime, I'm going to enjoy the fact that I don't have to worry about school work any more.
I'm so grateful for the past 15 years of education, I'm also very grateful for the fact that I now get a break!
I'm grateful for the people who have come, some to leave again, others to stay (for a while at least) during those years.
I'm grateful for all the opportunities of growth I have had.
I'm grateful for the couple of hours I spent chilling with my friends after we finished our exams. I'm grateful for the awesome "yay! you're finished" gift I got from my parents - 9 Star Trek movies (completing my Star Trek movie collection) and one season of DS9 (also Star Trek). I am very thankful for the great food my family and I just ate in celebration!
And, most of all, I'm so grateful to God for bringing me through these past years and for the plans He has for my future.
I'm so excited for them! Please stick around as I learn new lessons, fumble things up and learn to love God more and more.
Are you all ready? Let's roll!
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rest. Show all posts
Wednesday, 20 November 2013
Sunday, 17 November 2013
Thanksgiving #39 - Lazy Days and Games' Nights (a Sabbath day)
Yesterday, I had a lazy day.
My first real lazy day in a long time.
And it felt good.
It felt very, very good.
Admittedly, in the morning it was kind of forced on me due to me not feeling very well, but it was still very good.
Essentially, I spent the majority of my day lying on the sofa wrapped in my bedding and watching through Once Upon a Time with my sister. And not feeling guilty about it because I've only got 2 exams (one subject) left to go, and half a week to study for it.
In the evening, after dinner, I headed to church with the sister, where "just one hour" turned into three and a half hours of board games, laughter, chatting and cleaning with some friends.
Yesterday was, not just lazy, but relaxing.
And it has been obvious to all today, that I am much more relaxed than I have been. So many people have commented that I'm walking taller and look like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
I feel so much readier to face my day than I have been for a while. I wasn't intending to get up until 8, but at 7:24 I was up and ready to go.
Oh, the difference that taking a day off can make!
And this has been something that keeps coming up. This concept of "taking a break".
It's so easy not to do that. So easy to keep on going. Because, you know what? It's never finished.
The To-do list never gets shorter. Ever.
The world never slows down.
If anything, it just speeds up.
And up. And up.
And, I think I've spoken about this before, but it was pointed out to me, and I have since pointed it out to others.
So often we think that taking a break is selfish.
That just stopping and saying "no" to others is self-serving and unloving.
But... God commands us to take a rest.
I'll repeat that: God commands us to take a rest.
It isn't a mild suggestion. It isn't a "well... if you really must... but it would be so much better if you could..."
It is a command.
The Sabbath day... so many times He orders us to keep it Holy. It can even be found on the 10 Commandments.
Go, take a look. It's right there. Exodus chapter 20. Verse number 8. The fourth command: "remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy."
Now, I want to make myself very clear, I am by no means advocating doing no work at all. The Bible makes it so clear that laziness leads, quite rightfully, to ruin. It is dishonouring to God and foolish way to live.
But keeping the Sabbath honours God. Not just by the fact that you are taking a break, but by the work ethic and routine it helps us establish and maintain.
Look at Exodus 20: 9 - 10.
"Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God."
Six days of work, than a day of rest so that you can be ready and able to do the next six days.
Is taking a rest selfish? No!
In fact, I would say that not taking the rest is selfish.
Seriously. What motivates someone to keep going?
A guilty conscience. We keep working because we don't like that sense of guilt, that feeling of "but it's going to keep piling up on me, I'm just going to have more to do later if I stop now." You get the picture?
We aren't really motivated by a desire to serve and love. We are motivated by the thought that it will be worse if we don't. Well, at least, that's the case for me.
So we push ourselves until the bags under ours eyes reach the floor, our bodies give way, and our emotions fly out all over the place, and start to maim and hurt other people.
Real loving thing, huh?
But resting... well, I've found it is not only easier, but also much more natural for me to reach out to others and see how they are doing. I can spend longer hours caring for the needs of other. But only after I've rested.
And do you know how important this Sabbath is to the Lord?
Important enough that the commands He gives Israel regarding farming and the care of the land also followed this pattern. For 6 years they were to grow crops and work the land. On the seventh year, they were to eat stored grain and leave the land alone. The land was to have a Sabbath every seventh year. And this was important enough that God punished them for not doing it by exiling them. It wasn't the only sin they were being punished for, but in Isaiah, it is mentioned multiple times, and He mentions it in the second half of Leviticus 26.
Important enough that the commands He gave Israel regarding the treatment of slaves a servants also followed this pattern. For 6 years a bondservant (slave) served their master, and on the seventh year they were freed, unless they chose to stay.
Yep. It's important.
But do you know what else the Exodus passage tells us about the Sabbath?
Well, it gives us an example, a model to follow, if you will. Which is this: "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (v 11)
Did you get that?
God doesn't just command a day of rest. He took one Himself. He built this pattern around what He Himself did.
I think that's a pretty good reason to be able to take a rest.
But, more than that, there's an even greater reason why we should do this.
All of God's Laws were laid down in order to set Israel apart. To bring God honour. To show the world that Israel served a Holy God.
Well, we still serve that same Holy God.
Shouldn't we be setting ourselves apart by following, to the best of our abilities, that pattern? That pattern of six days work and one day rest a week.
By being purposeful about taking time out to rest, to worship.
If you think about it, people in this world either over-rest and under-work, or they under-rest and over-work.
Be different. Make sure you get enough rest to do enough work to the best of your ability to the Glory of God.
Not so that you can do better, but so that God can do better through you.
Not so that you can be seen as great, but so that God can be seen as what He is: HOLY.
So, my thanksgiving point: I am grateful for rest, I am grateful that my God cares about my rest. And I am grateful for the day of rest I got yesterday.
My first real lazy day in a long time.
And it felt good.
It felt very, very good.
Admittedly, in the morning it was kind of forced on me due to me not feeling very well, but it was still very good.
Essentially, I spent the majority of my day lying on the sofa wrapped in my bedding and watching through Once Upon a Time with my sister. And not feeling guilty about it because I've only got 2 exams (one subject) left to go, and half a week to study for it.
In the evening, after dinner, I headed to church with the sister, where "just one hour" turned into three and a half hours of board games, laughter, chatting and cleaning with some friends.
Yesterday was, not just lazy, but relaxing.
And it has been obvious to all today, that I am much more relaxed than I have been. So many people have commented that I'm walking taller and look like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders.
I feel so much readier to face my day than I have been for a while. I wasn't intending to get up until 8, but at 7:24 I was up and ready to go.
Oh, the difference that taking a day off can make!
And this has been something that keeps coming up. This concept of "taking a break".
It's so easy not to do that. So easy to keep on going. Because, you know what? It's never finished.
The To-do list never gets shorter. Ever.
The world never slows down.
If anything, it just speeds up.
And up. And up.
And, I think I've spoken about this before, but it was pointed out to me, and I have since pointed it out to others.
So often we think that taking a break is selfish.
That just stopping and saying "no" to others is self-serving and unloving.
But... God commands us to take a rest.
I'll repeat that: God commands us to take a rest.
It isn't a mild suggestion. It isn't a "well... if you really must... but it would be so much better if you could..."
It is a command.
The Sabbath day... so many times He orders us to keep it Holy. It can even be found on the 10 Commandments.
Go, take a look. It's right there. Exodus chapter 20. Verse number 8. The fourth command: "remember the Sabbath day by keeping it Holy."
Now, I want to make myself very clear, I am by no means advocating doing no work at all. The Bible makes it so clear that laziness leads, quite rightfully, to ruin. It is dishonouring to God and foolish way to live.
But keeping the Sabbath honours God. Not just by the fact that you are taking a break, but by the work ethic and routine it helps us establish and maintain.
Look at Exodus 20: 9 - 10.
"Six days you shall labour and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God."
Six days of work, than a day of rest so that you can be ready and able to do the next six days.
Is taking a rest selfish? No!
In fact, I would say that not taking the rest is selfish.
Seriously. What motivates someone to keep going?
A guilty conscience. We keep working because we don't like that sense of guilt, that feeling of "but it's going to keep piling up on me, I'm just going to have more to do later if I stop now." You get the picture?
We aren't really motivated by a desire to serve and love. We are motivated by the thought that it will be worse if we don't. Well, at least, that's the case for me.
So we push ourselves until the bags under ours eyes reach the floor, our bodies give way, and our emotions fly out all over the place, and start to maim and hurt other people.
Real loving thing, huh?
But resting... well, I've found it is not only easier, but also much more natural for me to reach out to others and see how they are doing. I can spend longer hours caring for the needs of other. But only after I've rested.
And do you know how important this Sabbath is to the Lord?
Important enough that the commands He gives Israel regarding farming and the care of the land also followed this pattern. For 6 years they were to grow crops and work the land. On the seventh year, they were to eat stored grain and leave the land alone. The land was to have a Sabbath every seventh year. And this was important enough that God punished them for not doing it by exiling them. It wasn't the only sin they were being punished for, but in Isaiah, it is mentioned multiple times, and He mentions it in the second half of Leviticus 26.
Important enough that the commands He gave Israel regarding the treatment of slaves a servants also followed this pattern. For 6 years a bondservant (slave) served their master, and on the seventh year they were freed, unless they chose to stay.
Yep. It's important.
But do you know what else the Exodus passage tells us about the Sabbath?
Well, it gives us an example, a model to follow, if you will. Which is this: "For in six days, the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." (v 11)
Did you get that?
God doesn't just command a day of rest. He took one Himself. He built this pattern around what He Himself did.
I think that's a pretty good reason to be able to take a rest.
But, more than that, there's an even greater reason why we should do this.
All of God's Laws were laid down in order to set Israel apart. To bring God honour. To show the world that Israel served a Holy God.
Well, we still serve that same Holy God.
Shouldn't we be setting ourselves apart by following, to the best of our abilities, that pattern? That pattern of six days work and one day rest a week.
By being purposeful about taking time out to rest, to worship.
If you think about it, people in this world either over-rest and under-work, or they under-rest and over-work.
Be different. Make sure you get enough rest to do enough work to the best of your ability to the Glory of God.
Not so that you can do better, but so that God can do better through you.
Not so that you can be seen as great, but so that God can be seen as what He is: HOLY.
So, my thanksgiving point: I am grateful for rest, I am grateful that my God cares about my rest. And I am grateful for the day of rest I got yesterday.
Friday, 15 November 2013
Thankgsiving #41 - For Work and Rest and Safety
"They will not grow old as we that are left grow old,
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
at the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.
Lest we forget."
They are familiar words. Words that most people in English speaking countries will have heard many times.
Words that can sometimes be so familiar that we forget just what they mean. We forget just what it is we are rememering.
Our school had our Remembrance Day ceremony today. I am ashamed to say that in the pressure and stress of the exams, I did not realise it was Remembrance Day until it was past.
So it was good to be able to have that moment of silence today and to commorate the memories and lives of service men and women who have given of themselves, whether it was their life or their health to the protection of their countries and their worlds.
As we had our moment of silence, which followed readings of "In Flanders Fields", "We are the Maimed" and, of course, "The Ode", I reflected on the words of prayer that we say at church quite regularly.
It is part of a prayer of thanksgiving, words that are often said by rote: "for life and health and safety, for work and rest and friendship".
"safety... work... rest".
I reflected on the wars that have raged and wars still being fought. I thought of those who died in battle, and of those who came home scarred emotionally and/or physically. I thought of the sacrfices they made to keep my country free and safe, to prevent fighting from ever reaching our shores, so that we may enjoy safety, work and rest. And I thought of the sacrifices they made to try to ensure that other countries, countries that otherwise would have nothing to do with us, enjoy the same freedoms.
I do not agree with war. I do not think killing is the way to go. And I am not particularly patriotic. But the older I get, the deeper my respect for our soldiers.
The more important it becomes to me to honour their memories. I may not know their names. I may not be connected to them in anyway, but they sacrficed themselves for people they would never meet, people whose names they would never know.
They are still sacrficing themselves for it. Because not ever country is as priviliged as mine. Not every country is able to enjoy work, rest and safety.
And, as the Rouse began to play, I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving.
I thanked God that I live in a country where I can work, where I can rest and where I know every measure is being taken to ensure my safety.
And I thanked God for those men and women who made it, and make it, possible.
That is today's thanksgiving point, on the 41st day before Christmas. The sacrfice of our militaries, and the privileges that came from it.
Lest we forget.
age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn,
at the going down of the sun and in the morning
we will remember them.
Lest we forget."
They are familiar words. Words that most people in English speaking countries will have heard many times.
Words that can sometimes be so familiar that we forget just what they mean. We forget just what it is we are rememering.
Our school had our Remembrance Day ceremony today. I am ashamed to say that in the pressure and stress of the exams, I did not realise it was Remembrance Day until it was past.
So it was good to be able to have that moment of silence today and to commorate the memories and lives of service men and women who have given of themselves, whether it was their life or their health to the protection of their countries and their worlds.
As we had our moment of silence, which followed readings of "In Flanders Fields", "We are the Maimed" and, of course, "The Ode", I reflected on the words of prayer that we say at church quite regularly.
It is part of a prayer of thanksgiving, words that are often said by rote: "for life and health and safety, for work and rest and friendship".
"safety... work... rest".
I reflected on the wars that have raged and wars still being fought. I thought of those who died in battle, and of those who came home scarred emotionally and/or physically. I thought of the sacrfices they made to keep my country free and safe, to prevent fighting from ever reaching our shores, so that we may enjoy safety, work and rest. And I thought of the sacrifices they made to try to ensure that other countries, countries that otherwise would have nothing to do with us, enjoy the same freedoms.
I do not agree with war. I do not think killing is the way to go. And I am not particularly patriotic. But the older I get, the deeper my respect for our soldiers.
The more important it becomes to me to honour their memories. I may not know their names. I may not be connected to them in anyway, but they sacrficed themselves for people they would never meet, people whose names they would never know.
They are still sacrficing themselves for it. Because not ever country is as priviliged as mine. Not every country is able to enjoy work, rest and safety.
And, as the Rouse began to play, I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving.
I thanked God that I live in a country where I can work, where I can rest and where I know every measure is being taken to ensure my safety.
And I thanked God for those men and women who made it, and make it, possible.
That is today's thanksgiving point, on the 41st day before Christmas. The sacrfice of our militaries, and the privileges that came from it.
Lest we forget.
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