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day off



We leave for Cuba in 2 days. It is a welcome and much-needed vacation for Dean and I am happy to go with him. I was just reading the end of 2 Chronicles this afternoon where a 70-year exile was imposed on the people of Israel to make up for all the unkept sabbaths. Yikes! Though keeping the sabbath is not one of the top commandments in many people's minds, this story reminds us that it is not to be ignored.

As Jesus demonstrated, keeping a holy day is not about ceasing all labour nor about a specific period of time that is untouchable. It it about not finding your source in your own efforts. It is acknowledging every minute of every day that God makes the difference, not my labour. It is about being able to rest with confidence that he will always supply everything I need and refusing to become part of the self-reliant community that seeks to make its own way and success.

When was the last time you truly had a sabbath? When you stopped your mind and soul from analysing and planning and making to-do lists in order to successfully complete the next phases of your life and just rested in the fact that God is the giver and sustainer of all life and right now, that is enough. And it always must be. Unless God builds the house, we labour in vain (Psalm 127)

This photo was taken at sunset on Mont Royal in Montreal on February 27, 2007.

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