This is my favorite puppy lesson…

Take Frequent Naps!

There isn’t much better in life than taking a nap with a cuddly little puppy. And puppies need a lot of naps. All that growing and playing and growing and playing is exhausting.

Similarly, we often do way too much growing our lives and playing at everything and more growing our lives and playing whatever we missed before. We’ve forgotten the art of rest. I don’t mean laziness or slothfulness. I’m talking about the never ending merry-go-round we keep our families on; school, clubs, sports and more sports, dance lessons, voice lessons, karate, church services, church clubs, church groups, church ministry, jobs, business trips, etc…

None of these things are bad or evil. It’s just that the American Middle Class is obsessed with more and more and more, which reduces the value of everything we are trying to squeeze into our lives.

Israel got in trouble doing this. They didn’t keep the Sabbath, the day of rest. Nor did they keep the Sabbatical Year. Multiple decades in exile was the result of their unwillingness to follow God’s example of working six days and resting for one. I don’t think which day we rest is the issue, but rather that we do it. And it doesn’t have to be eight hours of continuous Bible reading and mantras. It just needs to be a day we get off the roller coasters and collect ourselves and our family. It should be a time we rejuvenate, reconnect and restore the relationships around us and our relationship with the Creator.

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you. “For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 (NASB)