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For Monday, April 22: Bountiful Harvest

A field that has rested gives a bountiful crop.  Ovid

I've talked about rest before, in bits and pieces.  But I love the picture Ovid gives with today's quote so I thought I would "bit and piece" the topic some more.  As I grow in my understanding and ability (just hang with me on that word) to rest I grow in understanding of what Ovid means by today's thought, of why God asked us to observe Sabbath rest, of why - on a very practical level - it is advisable for farmers to literally rest their land every seven years. When the soil rests for a year it replenishes its nutrients, it restores its ability to serve, it refreshes so that the work can continue.  So it goes for our hearts and even our physical bodies.  When we rest our hearts, our minds, and our bodies we are replenishing our emotional and mental nutrients, we are restoring our energy so we can serve/work, and we are refreshing our spirits so we can continue on.  It all sounds good in theory right?  Where we struggle is in our ability (see I came back around to it) to actually rest.  We aren't wired in today's culture to rest.  There's a subtle message out there that if we actually truly rest then we are lazy or fill in the blank.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  It wasn't all that long ago that resting one day a week got the majority vote.  But with the acceleration and advancement of technology (which is supposed to make our lives "easier" but somehow has made our lives more difficult) we began to move away from rest and now it is an unpopular thing to participate in.  The result?  There's plenty of stats out there to support that we are more burdened, less productive, physically worn, and more disengaged than ever before.  We need to rest the field of our hearts, minds, and bodies if we want to provide a bountiful crop in our homes, workplaces, relationships, etc. 
What are your thoughts on rest?  Can you see past the culture we live in to see the benefits or has our culture and its pressures clouded your perspective?  I encourage you to do some thinking on this and try to establish rest in your life so that your crops are bountiful. 

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