“What do workers gain from their toil? 10 I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. 11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. 13 That each of them may eat and drink and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.” – Ecclesiastes 3:9-13
I just returned from a four-day weekend at the beach in Galveston. Spending time there is indeed a gift from God. I didn’t grow up near the beach and it has taken me years to embrace the sand and salt water coupled with the breeze and the burning sun in a welcoming way! But… I did. Again. I’d not been to the beach since Summer 2019. It felt good… especially being able to take a break from the hard and difficult work of being retired… and all… being with family in a very casual way made it all worthwhile.
I’ve long believed that work is a curse (see the opening chapters of Genesis) but in God’s design for life there is always a command to ‘re-create’! We do it daily. We work and play and rest. We are commanded to exercise a ‘sabbath’ each week… a day of rest… dedicated to worship and a personal focus on God… and as the writer of Ecclesiastes has taught us… there is a time for everything… including seasons for work and rest…
Even the government has got in on it… as there are about a dozen federal holidays (pronounced ‘HOLY-days’ at my house) set aside… just about one per month… with March left open for overlapping weeks of ‘spring break’ along with August with summer vacation ending as students and teachers prep for the opening of schools… and six of those holidays are designated for a three-day weekend identifying a Monday or Friday to add to time off from the workplace. So much for separation of church and state… with the government claiming God’s idea… or at least building on to it…
But… in the big scheme of things I think recreation is much more of an attitude than it is a day or a weekend… an attitude that has power for us when it gets built into our daily routines in order to impact our working and serving in a positive way. Too much work makes any of us a work-a-holic. Too much worship turns any of us into a fanatic and too much play or rest makes for a world where little is accomplished. See how smart God is? To give us each a personal template that compliments corporate life using these three key ingredients? Work, play and rest? Pretty smart for sure… as if we all just focused on one or two and not all three … our quality of life would be diminished in a dramatic way.
So, what is my take-away from a weekend at the beach? It’s great to have a change of scenery… It’s wonderful to be with family and be able to play with grandchildren outside my home… I was reminded very quickly of how blessed I am as for thousands of years people who lived by the shore did so not to frolic in the sand and waves but to have access to food and transportation from one coastline village to another… and the time away offered me some ‘dis-connect’ from daily routines and provided some re-newed energy to address projects I’m working on still…
Jesus modeled this for us… going off alone to re-create… to pray and look inside his own heart and invited his disciples to do the same. Faith matters!
And yeah… it’s hot out there… so be smart… Drink lots of water and take a break this Summer as recreation is indeed God’s gift for each of us!
