Then God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it,
because in it He rested from all His work
which God had created and made.
(Genesis 2)
Rest.
It’s time to take a break.
Believe it or not, this challenge will actually be difficult for some people. We live in a web of contradictions, including the assertion that we dislike having busy lives – though in reality we thrive on being busy.
Let us put an end to the chaos… at least for a day.
Challenge #17: Take the day off. Rest. Sleep in. Enjoy the day. Be with your family. Take a break from your Lent, your H2O Challenge. Rest… But in everything you decide to do (or not do) today, be sure to revel in the wonder of God. Think of Him often during this day of rest.
An encouragement I have for you is to close this day in your Corner. Take a moment to at least speak to Him about what you’ve learned, what you’ve seen thus far.
Sunday’s Challenge #18: HOMESICK
Yay!!! First commentor AGAIN!!! So far, I have slept in. In my contacts. And my ponytail. So that means my hair will be tangly. See, I learned something already! The consequenses of your actions can bite you in the butt. Or the hair. Or even in your eye.
ReplyDeleteI am off to enjoy my first iced tea in a WEEK!!!
slept in till twelve before i even read the challenge :}
ReplyDeletei think today... i'm accepting the challenge and stuff but not completely in terms of lent and the H2O thing. i'm gonna eat and drink some different stuff but not a ton of it... just a little. maybe one glass of orange juice today and then the rest of it'll be water. and maybe some chips today but the rest of it'll be my lent diet.
:)
I feel sad about this challenge. That one will be hard to explain. But bassically I had all these plans today to do my climb challenge (I still am baceause I will involve playing with my puppy) and my finish challenge by cleaning the house (after all it is the first day of spring... and spring cleaning is a must) and I like to finish things I set my mind too... and now I feel like I cant. I dont think that is the feeling this challenge was going for... but it where I am. My weekends are so busy becuase I am working 50 hour work weeks and the weekend is the only time I get to be productive somewhere other that work. I get to actually do the things I want to do (and sometimes need to do). Maybe if I want to do them it still is the sabbath for me... no thats not right is it? I really. honestly didnt think this would be a hard challenge... but guilt is going to make it extremely hard.
ReplyDelete:D finally, a break! i need one of those. this is my busiest time of year.
ReplyDeleteHaha ive already messed this up. I had a doubleheader today and caught both games and believe me...it was not rest. i need rest because i am exhausted. So ill do my Sabbath tomorrow. A glass of lemonade and a mountain dew is sounding really good for tomorrow...
ReplyDeleteI loved today resting with my family in the Springy GA mountains! (It also knocked out the "climb" challenge!)
ReplyDeleteI saw God in the river, in the fish that taunted JD, in the hiking trail, in the beaver chewed trees & footprints, in the McDonalds playland, and in the evening sky driving home.
Thank you, Babe, for observing Sabbath with us! You have been so busy lately. I hope it refreshed you as much as it did us! It was an awesome day!
Today was very relaxing, in a strange sort of way. I slept in a little (got up at 7:30 instead of 6:00), then spent about 7 hours at the lacrosse tournament. That might not sound too restful, but the weather was gorgeous, the games were good, and I was surrounded by family and friends, several of whom joined us for dinner.
ReplyDeleteGood fun and good friends on a beautiful day - what more could I ask for? I saw God in the glorious spring weather - complete with warm sun and cool breezes, greening grass and trees, and TONS of bluets blooming EVERYWHERE. I saw God in the girls - both in how wonderfully they were designed and the poetry that was evident in their playing and in their camaraderie and team spirit as they worked together towards a common goal. I saw God in the parents, as they showed their love and support for their players. And I saw God in in the girls' friends, who weren't playing and who certainly could have spent their Saturday elsewhere, but choose to come and support their friends' efforts.
I stuck to everything. I did not observe the Sabbath.
ReplyDeleteWell, today was my birthday, but I worked at Chick-fil-A. It was stressful. I didn't get to read the challenge until after 3, so I had no idea. How sad. But, after work I took a nap and then went to dinner on the square with my family. Then...watched the movie 'The Pursuit of Happyness' which helped my realize how blessed I am. Now I'm in bed about to sleep. Oh, it will be WONDERFUL!!!
ReplyDeleteMy day was perfect. Slept in. Watched Movies. Opened Windows. Drove around a little. And I took a nap. It was great:)
ReplyDeleteInteresting comments! I thought this challenge might be a little tough, especially because, as Danielle said, it caught people off gaurd (though I tried to allude to it earlier this week). The last thing you should feel in this Challenge is guilt. If Saturday did not work for you, choose another day and be intentional about it. And while you rest, remember to do so in a way that allows you to reflect on God, on His providence in your life!
ReplyDeleteMy Sabbath was both wonderful and difficult. I have many, many people waiting for me, wanting to talk to me, frustrated with my overdue deadlines, etc. I had an entire day where I could have tried to catch up and I sincerely struggled to put it out of my mind as I left with the family to flyfish with my boys. What a great, God-filled day! But how difficult to tame the mind, the anxieties of life at the same time! I wish I could say that I laid my head down with a peace-filled heart, but I did not. Sabbath is hard for me. There is my confession.
-J.D.
Dylon
ReplyDeletegave up my water, but not my lent.
Unfortunately, I didn't read this until today (Sunday). I worked hard all day Saturday in the yard, burning branches and leafs. I wanted something other than water so bad but I didn't give in. If I had only read the blog... Looking ahead I'm not sure when I can do this for a whole day... It's very rare that I'm not working on something. This will be a challenge in deed.
ReplyDeleteSaturday didn't start as a day that was recommended by J.D. My friend, Jack Simmons, got a call from me on Friday asking if he could come over to help me replace the o2 sensor on our little white car. He said Saturday was his 27th anniversary but he would if he could get it done early. I said that would be fine!
ReplyDeleteSaturday started with me being all about getting the o2 sensor replaced, not looking at the underside of a car for a couple of hours. After we got the car up on stands (another story, for another day) it didn't take us too long to determine that we were not able to change it out, lack of knowledge and tools.
During those hours, we talked about so many things, it seemed as if God had brought us to this experience to bring us closer to Him! As the morning came to an end, we parted with a renewed friendship, and an even closer relationship with our heavenly Father.
With this, I can say I did "enjoy the day", "revel in the wonder of God", and "think about Him often during this day of rest" (during the morning) as J.D. recommended..Thanks Brothers Jack and JD, I needed that...
thanks jd
ReplyDeletelauren, breezy and i did this one together.
ReplyDelete-we ate 2 bags or cheese puff popcorn.
-1,000,000,000 cheerwine. and built a pyramid with the cans. :P
-chocolate and glazed doughnuts.
-pringles.
-sprite.
-onion rings.
-fried cheese sticks.
-french fries.
-barbeque.
-more cheerwine. :)
Finally Jd! I did it earlier but forgot to blog I drank three powerades two sprites a dr. pepper and a a water.
ReplyDeleteBlake
did it today... I had a hard time doing it b4 today
ReplyDeleteAnonymous
ReplyDeleteit was great to relax and enjoy the break from lent
Faith
i've been really slacking on the comments but still doing the challenges on those days...anyways, i think i went to starbucks twice, and drank like a gallon of sweet tea. it tasted weird after having been use to water for a week. (even though thats not very long)
ReplyDeleteit was weird, by the way, doing this, cause while ezzie and breezy and i were eating and drinking all that junk... we weren't really enjoying it. i mean.. it was good, but not super great. funny what lent can do :P
ReplyDeletethis was easy and i enjoyed it:)
ReplyDeleteAlthough I could not sleep in, (I NEVER SLEEP IN!!) I enjoyed this sabbath day with a Coke and a Smile.
ReplyDelete