Problem: WE ARE TOO BUSY.   Increasingly, one of the most popular words I hear is “busy.” It is usually modified with “too” as in “I’m too busy to enjoy my days off.”  I also hear “I’m too busy to be active in church” and “I’m busier NOW than I was before I retired from my full time job” and  “I’m so busy, it’s all I can do to make it to the worship service once a week.”  Busy. Busy. Busy.  This is one I hear in the summer, “I was too busy during my vacation trying to have fun that I could not relax - I need a vacation from my vacation!”  July certainly is the month of celebration and many family vacations and therefore a time with lots of high energy fun and high expectations.

     Solution:  WE NEED TO SIMPLIFY OUR DAILY LIVES.  Our lives are full of many things that are good things that need to be done and often we cannot delegate or decline to do some things but we can adjust how we approach it all.

      Antidote: JESUS.  He said,  “Come unto me all ye who are overwhelmed and I will give you rest (my translation from Matthew 11:28).   Our time spent with Jesus should be the time we are most excited about and most joyously anticipated. Jesus wants to bless us with His peace and His joy. But we must stay close to Him and “abide in” in Him.  It is in prayer and meditating on His Word that we are “RE-created and  RE-stored - because it is the way we MOST DIRECTLY experience the Lord Himself in our DAILY lives. 

        How spending the best and most attentive daily time with Jesus can bless us is shown in Psalm 1:2-3.  Frequent meditation on (and not just reading of) God’s Word so continually refreshes the soul that “he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper.”  The key is to be like that tree and remain near the “water of life” – and that “water of life” is Jesus.    

      How many of you will be going to the beach or to a lake or some body of water for vacation? I love the ocean, lakes, rivers, waterfalls, and  creeks – all water!  Water is very refreshing in so many ways to us through our physical senses of smell, taste, touch, sound, and especially sight.  Remember these verses if you are blessed enough to be near water during your vacations. And remember these verses if the only water you are near is washing the dishes in your kitchen sink.  Be like that tree. Stay close to Jesus - “the tree of life.”  Dwelling with Him will help give you the peace, calmness, and serenity you need to approach the “busy-ness” in life and even the “busy-ness” of vacations!  In fact, dwelling in the arms of God will help keep you close to Him “24/7” wherever you are!

     Meditating and rest is not an easy task for some – especially for those with so much responsibility but we can start as Christy Lane used to sing by doing it “One Day at a Time.” The important thing is to begin – TODAY – don’t put it off.  Don’t bite off more than you can chew at first.  Start with a small task such as just not forgetting to laugh and smile!  That simple act in itself is a “break” from whatever you are doing – reality or vacation – and it is a start.  And then work your way up to spending quality time meditating and “dwelling” with our Lord.  The calmness you receive from this time with the Lord will spill over to sustain you during the rest of your day.  If we will just “practice” this every day for 30 days we will be well on our way to a simplified but wonderfully refreshing summer – and a simplified life!  Today is the first day of the rest of your life!  Enjoy it! 

                  In His Love,  Pastor Rob