Genesis 2 – God Rested
2 Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array.
2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2:1-2.
I confess that this year, I am not writing about Day 7 or God’s Creation of the World on Day 7 of Advent, but to preserve some semblance of order on my blog, I am posting Day 7 before I add Days 8 and 9. You see, on Day 7 of Advent, I was not restful–I was harried and rushed–and I was too tired and mentally exhausted to say anything meaningful about Rest on that Day. In fact, Day 8 of Advent was not much better for me–in terms of reaching a state of rest. But I woke up at 3 a.m. on the Morning of Day 9, and the thoughts of what I needed to say about Rest washed over me.
But First, What Is Advent?
Advent is a period before Christmas that some Christians set aside to prepare to celebrate again the birth and life of Jesus Christ.
I had determined that during the first 7 days of Advent this year, I would talk about the 7 Days of God’s Creation of the World, and those verses of the Bible are in Genesis–In the Beginning. Thus, when I started this post with a post from Matthew, where Jesus is depicted as saying: Come unto me…and I will give you rest, I was getting the cart before the horse. Advent is a preparation of our minds to receive the word of Jesus. To begin to understand mankind’s need of rest, we need to return to Genesis–to Day 7 of God’s Creation of the World, the Day He created for rest
Work 6 Days — Rest on Day 7
When I consider God’s example of working six days and resting the day after that, I commend that idea.
My work ethic is more like this: I work until I drop and then I crash.
That program is not a recommended course, but old habits die hard.
In fact, that approach always sets me up for a bout of depression, and honestly, my best ideas for writing and painting come to me AS I rest–or just after I have almost awakened from sleep.
When I resres, I am a magical thinker. On Silver Sheets I Sail:
On Silver Sheets, I Sail
by Jacki KellumJust before I open my eyes,
I float along the misty skies.
I reach, I feel the soft, white hair
And fairy wings that flutter there,
I listen. I hear the slumber song:
The angel band that plays along.
My dreams are in my pillow-pail.
On Silver Sheets, I Sail.
Here’s another excerpt of a verse I wrote after awakening from a nap. I was telling how my writing ideas often come to me while I sleep:
Visions of sugarplums visited me
Moonbeams and crystal shards lit up the sea
Soft webs and angel hair strung from a flea
Toy-tugged my leaf-boat along.Copyright Jacki Kellum October 11, 2015
When I am rested, I am creative, but when I am drained, I cannot buy a creative thought, and that is why I need rest.
Winter is the Season of Rest
Rest But consider this; the world was set up on a time wheel, wherein one of the 4 months of the year is established as a time of rest. When God Created Day 4, He Created the Sun–which evokes the Seasons.
On the First Day of Creation God Created Light–Night and Day
3 Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 4 And God saw the light, that it was good; and God divided the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light Day, and the darkness He called Night. [b]So the evening and the morning were the first day.
God Must have thought Rest was important, He set aside periods to rest. Traditionally, Night is a Time to Rest, the Weekend is a Time to Rest, Winter Is a Time to Rest. Most of us find plenty of time to work. We must also find time to rest–to rest in a way that will refresh and renew ourselves regularly.
“What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed swayed by the wind?… Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” Matthew 11:7b,28
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