Rest and Recharge

We have a chime clock in our living room that plays the same 16-note song every single hour of the day, all day, every day. Because of that, we can pretty much tune it out. It's rare that I actually hear it. Unless, of course, the battery is dying. Then it becomes pretty hilarious. The chimes then sound like a sad, dying seal. Each note slides on the musical scale and drags on. The last time the chime battery got low was more than five years ago. We had friends staying with us at the time. We purposely didn't change the battery because it made us laugh hysterically the worse it got. Just recently the chimes started slowing slightly, and again I don't plan on changing it until I absolutely have to. It just brings me too much joy in it's sluggish heralding of the hour.

But the chimes most definitely need a re-charging. They need a fresh battery to keep the song crisp, alert and sounding the way the Rev. Dr. Joseph Jowett intended when he - along with two others - wrote the song based on a movement of Handel's Messiah 1792 at Cambridge University. The song played for a new clock in St. Mary the Great Church on the campus of the university, and was copied by the folks who made Big Ben in London. Thus the song goes by several names, Westminister Quarters, Cambridge Chimes and Jowett's Jig ... all three the same 16-note song (you can listen to it here). Without a recharging, without a new battery, it's just a weepy, whine of a tune.

The reason I bring up the story of our sad, slowing, chime tune is because of the necessity of rest. You come from a long line of folks who burn the midnight oil making the most of every second of the day then collapsing at the end of it. Sometimes we even neglect the 7-8 hours of sleep experts suggest we need to perform at optimum levels. God created our bodies to require rest so the body could recoup during the night. The brain, heart and our tissues are all repairing, replacing and strengthening during sleep. Without it we are lethargic, cranky, make poor choices and, with prolonged sleep deprivation, lower our immune systems to where we can get ill. We must have rest. And for that matter, must adequately fuel our bodies during the day to work right. A recharging and a new battery.

The Lord knew the necessity of rest. He created it. While designing our adult bodies to require about a third of the day at rest, he also insisted we take one day off a week to rest. Twenty-four hours to rest and recharge. It was so important to the Lord that he made it one of the Ten Commandments, calling that seventh day a Sabbath and making it holy (Exodus 20:12). The sabbath was Saturday and a day of rest and worship for the Jews. Early Christians can be thanked for the invention of the weekend, making Sunday, the first day of the week, a day of worship and rest also since Jesus rose from the dead on a Sunday morning. But whether you rest on a weekend or week day, your body must rest.

We know you both love to work and love your work, and we are thankful to God for your hard work ethics. We pray you will love to rest equally so, so that you can be the best of yourselves during those work times. Make sure you take time to rest - sleep each day and rest from work at least once weekly. Your workaholic Grandpa Lauritzen commented to me recently how he hated to sleep when he was younger, thinking it was a waste of time. He got maybe 4 hours of sleep a night. Now that he's retired, he said he realizes how hard he worked his body to the point where he wasn't working as efficiently as he could. Get your rest.

You know there are lyrics to Jowett's Jig? The words are:

All through this hour

Lord be my guide

And by Thy love

No foot shall slide.

Rest in the Father. Rest peacefully at night. Rest weekly in recreation. Rest in each other. Rest in God's love. It will keep your foot from slipping in more ways than one.

Discussion: Do you make sure you get enough sleep each night? What do you both do to make sure you are getting a weekly day of rest? How can you hold each other accountable in a gentle way to remember to rest?

Prayer: Father, we want to make the most of the time you've given us, so much so, that sometimes we forget to take a break. Lord, we pray we always remember the necessity of rest, just as You did after the creation of the world. Help us to take care of ourselves and each other. We can do far more, more effectively for Your Kingdom when we're recharged and rested. Glory to you, O Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.