Summer Slowdown 

Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. 

It is summertime and many of us have plans to take time out and engage with a different rhythm, one which centres on rest and relaxation. 

Rest is important and necessary; it is something we should all be engaging with regularly, not just because we are tired, but because God asks us to. 

You are invited to intentionally set a Sabbath pace this summer- whatever this might look like for you. 

Our days can feel overwhelming with much to do, lots of information to process, our personal circumstances, as well as our friends and families, our church community’s. We feel the struggles and challenges of life. It can even be that we become used to being busy, so that we find ourselves rushing about when we don’t have to. We scroll and check our emails, keeping our brains on alert instead of embracing calm. 

Martha in Luke 10:38-42 offers the kind of generous hospitality Jesus asks of us. She was though over busy, distracted and worried about her preparations. I am sure many of us can relate to Martha! 

We can be distracted today by so many things like time pressure, information –there is so much in the news and on social media, events too. It can be necessary that we attend to urgent things and good causes, but are they really all so important to our lives in the long term? We can let the urgent take priority over that what’s really important.  

Mary in contrast sits at Jesus’ feet and shows that what we do need to be grounded in relationship with God. This means spending time with him. How about we enjoy more of the loving presence of God? 

The work of loving others as Jesus did and joining in with what God is doing, indeed our everyday lives must be fuelled by the renewing power of the Holy Spirit. We can tap into this when we worship, pray and sit in the presence of God. I recently did so with a busy head and embraced a deeper sense of God’s peace. Giving time to being with God, soaking in word and prayer, and opening ourselves up to him is so worthwhile to our wellbeing and to our relationship with him. 

I encourage us all this summer, as best we can, to give time to focus on God, to be in his presence and know his renewal, rest and joy. We can do this alone, or even better, in community! Then, I want us to keep on doing that. Jesus said, “come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” 

God rested after he had finished his creation work. He set apart the seventh day as Sabbath and made it Holy. He stopped, looked, reflected and assessed, and we are to emulate. Let us stop and rest, give over our struggles, be attentive to God’s Spirit, reflect on God and ourselves, our priorities and gain some perspective. 

We don’t have to choose between being active and reflective, but we do need to choose a balance that makes us whole, freer from distraction and worries and focused in faith. I suspect most of us need to attend to this balance! 

Start as you can, without pressure. 

I pray God guides you to a balance between doing your work and life and simply being in his presence and being renewed by him too. 

I pray that as you sit in his presence, you to come to know God’s joy, his peace, faithfulness and hope, amidst your everyday lives, your challenges and storms.  

With every blessing 

Rachael 

You can find a helpful resource at this link, https://practicingtheway.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com/Guides/Summer-Slowdown.pdf, or simply add “Practising the way-Summer slowdown” to your search bar.