Zzzzzzzzz . . .

Yesterday I woke up at around 5am and, inexplicably, stayed up. I had the bright idea of not going back to bed even though I had only gotten to bed the night before shortly after midnight. So I hadn't had a lot of sleep. Nevertheless, I felt fairly alert so up I was!

Around 7am I was sitting in one of the more comfortable chairs in our house and trying to pray -- except that after a little while, I found myself dozing, my mind wandering, distractions and random thoughts crowding out my more earnest and heart-felt petitions. And it wasn't much of a surprise given my state of restedness or not. But, still, on the whole I had a pretty good day. I even put together a decent outline for my sermon. I ran some errands. I prepared for Sunday morning's worship service. I had time with my family.

Eventually, of course, night arrived, and I went to bed. Well, I went to bed later than I should have (does anyone else do this?). And the next day, while I woke up at a decent hour, I still felt tired. Nevertheless, I trudged off to my office anyway. I attempted to work on my sermon, I tried reading my Bible, and, inevitably, was unsuccessful. Inevitably? The bottom line, I believe, is that my previous day's decision to stay up when I woke up so early (early for those of us who aren't farmers!) was catching up with me. I know this also because when I went upstairs from my office to our church sanctuary to pray, I found myself more than distracted. I very nearly fell asleep while sitting in one of our sanctuary chairs! Needless to say, it wasn't the most productive morning. My afternoon was better, but mostly because I wasn't attempting to do desk work but instead cleaned our car, ran a couple more errands, and helped my wife do some housework.

Rest is key to work, I was reminded. Without it, the brain can't function as it should. Thoughts are muddy. Prayers meander and even peter out. Reading leads to a pair of glazed over eyes. Physical rest, especially, is important. It's amazing how concentration is effected by the lack of it. All I know is that next time I get the notion to stay up when it's that early, I will suppress that impulse. This is especially true when the night before I got to bed fairly late. More waking hours doesn't necessarily mean more work done!

Reclining in My Car

For a very simple reason, today was a wonderful day.

The reason? I cleaned our car. And I didn't even give it the full treatment. I only cleaned the inside not the outside. But, boy, did that make a difference. You see, our car had not been cleaned since, oh, before the winter months. So, yes, it was an utter disaster. I think there were enough empty pop cans under the seats to put our daughter through college. On the odd occasion I would empty our car of some clutter, but let`s just say there were remnants of a Tim Horton`s muffin underneath the front passenger seat for . . . . well, let`s just say long beyond it`s natural expiry date. I`m not entirely sure it was still a muffin when I discarded it today.

My wife makes fun of me whenever I clean the car because whenever I do, or at least quite often when I do, I insist that we go for a drive almost immediately. Going for a drive in a clean car is a much different experience than driving in a car that one could lovingly refer to as `the trash can.` However, today I did not have this option only because upon completion of the cleaning ritual my wife and daughter were still in preschool. It`s no fun by myself. And besides, gas prices these days more or less rule out superfluous car trips. So after this cleaning ritual, the car simply sat in our driveway, looking much the same outside, but looking much better inside.

And so I did what any reasonable person would do in this situation. I gathered together some books--namely my Bible and a couple of commentaries to begin thinking about my next sermon--a glass of ice-water, and sat in the car in the driveway with the radio on. I actually sat in the front passenger seat, put the seat back, read, prayed, and rested. I rolled down the windows and eventually closed my eyes. I even dozed.

Mondays are sort of my day off. Though often they are not very Sabbath-like. I think it was Eugene Peterson who referred to a day off as a bastard Sabbath, and he`s pretty much on the mark there. Mondays tend to be when we go for groceries, run various errands, and do any needed shopping. None of these things, especially when crammed together into one day when accompanied by an energetic three and a half year old, is very restful. Thankfully, today we had to do none of those things. Granted, I did run one errand to the local hardware store for vacuum bags (otherwise cleaning the car would not have happened) and then proceeded across the parking lot to the local Pumpkin Patch (farmer`s market) for some fresh fruit and veggies. But none of this felt rushed. Even cleaning the car didn`t feel work-like. I took my time. There was no hurry. Honestly, cleaning my car felt nearly Sabbath-like. This is so even though I wasn`t exactly doing nothing.

What would be work for some people was not work for me. I was out in the sun, enjoying the blue skies, cool breeze, and the sheer experience of doing something that brought satisfaction and obvious results. It sure didn`t hurt that I had been anticipating the pleasure and joy of cleaning the car for several weeks if not months. Even if while cleaning it I wasn`t physically resting, at least not until I was done and sat in the car reading for a spell, I felt like my spirit was at rest. And this is a much more important thing.