Rectory Ramblings…

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. […] And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.       (Genesis 1:31-2:1)

It seems hard to believe that we are already in August. By now, someone I used to know would cheerfully be reminding everyone around him that “the nights are drawing in now you know”. It is true that whilst August still feels summery, the longest hottest days are behind us. I am already planning “the busiest time of my year”, which most people seem to think is late December, but actually seems to last from September to January. In all honesty, I do not know where the first half of this year has gone. I did think that this year would be better, quieter and slower, than last, and that I would be able to make more time for reading for pleasure, but it seems not to be the case. 

In my “before vicar” corporate days, there was much said about work-life balance and the need for rest periods and family time. But the reality was that we were all “encouraged” to sign the EU working-time directive waivers, and the Company expected to come first. The pace of modern life does not help either. Before the days of electricity we lived according to a natural rhythm. When the sun went down we had to stop work and rest. Spring and autumn were the days for hard work, the short days of winter were a time for rest and the longer hotter days summer a time for relaxation and play. Electricity and electronics seem on the surface to be a great blessing, freeing us from the constraint of daylight length and enabling global communication, but the reality is it has done so at the cost of a natural and healthy way of living.

There is wisdom in the rhythm and pattern set out for us in the opening chapter of the Bible. God worked, then he took time to enjoy what he had made, and then he rested. There is wisdom in the pattern of taking regular complete days of rest. All work and no play doesn’t just make Jack a dull boy, it leads to exhaustion and burnout. So, in what is left of this summer, between the busyness that fills my week, I will be trying to stop and rest, to recharge and refocus. I encourage you all to do the same.

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. […] Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. (Matthew 6:25,28-29)

                                Revd Eddie