On Being Two Year Olds

Oh, the sorrow of trying to get a toddler to take a nap. Remember?

Unknown girl from Google :)

(And no, this is not a post about parenting techniques, so don't even go there.)

 Isn't it hard to have a child who desperately needs to sleep, but refuses to do so? You give her a nice place to rest, you set aside a time for rest, you stay home and listen to her while she rests, yet she only screams and demands to get up. Our pity goes out to parents in this plight.

So, Christian, don't be like a two year old. Your father has told you to rest. Why do you demand to get up and work?

The Sabbath is a hated institution these days. Few believe in it. Hardly anybody practices it. Almost everyone views it, at best, as an onerous ancient law designed to restrict and bind us.

But I am God's child. He is my father. When He tells me I need rest, why do I assume He's an idiot and I know better? I'm a two year old.

All around me I hear people complain of how weary they are. Work, work, work. Hauling kids around. Eating on the run. Never having time at home. No time to read. Living in a permanently sleep-deprived state. And absolutely no time for church or worship. I've often heard, "I can't do church on Sunday. That's my one day to sleep in!" We are too busy; we're working ourselves to death.

And God says, Rest. He even sets aside a whole day each week, and gives it to us as a precious gift, and says, "Here! Enjoy this! Isn't it delightful?" And like two year olds, we throw it on the floor, and yell, "No!" We'd rather work. We think we know better what our bodies need, what our lives need. We think we must work. But the chaos and weariness we complain of, prove that God is right. We need rest.

I have no desire to be a legalist. I'm not going to bash myself or anyone else over the head with the cudgel of Sabbath Observance. But I would encourage all of us who claim that God made us, and made our world, and designed our lives, and knows us best, to believe Him when He says over and over again ... "I will give you rest."

Try resting on Sundays. Put aside all the work you possibly can. Thank God for the gift. Spend time thinking about His design for your life. And see if the remainder of your week doesn't go better, because you took time first to contemplate and rest between your weeks of work.