Tuesday, December 11, 2012

LEISURE, A BLESSING OR A CURSE ( Continuation)

Starting on my other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS on Nov 1...a 3 day series on HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY.

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A different sermon is begun on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. 

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       The sermons found on this blog are selected sermons preached by Rev. Wyrick during a ministry of over 50 years.  This syndicated columnist/minister thanks you for visiting.

TO GO TO NEIL’S OTHER BLOG ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS and read inspiring stories and comments to set you thinking. CLICK ON URL BELOW

 

Mark 8:36 

What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forget his soul?

Leisure, a blessing of a curse     

What I am talking about, of course, is discipline.  How much leisure is too much and how little is too little. 

       It is not easy finding a good modus operandi for delegating the hours and minutes of each new day, and to do so in such a manner they serve us and our destiny best.  None of us want to waste time.  None of us want to be WASTED BY TIME.

It is something new in the annals of present day mankind, this question of what to do with our leisure time. 

       My father worked 13 days on and then one day off.  He managed a drugstore and every other Sunday he went to work at 7 AM and worked till 11 PM.  He loved to work in our yard. 

His opportunities for such leisure activity were scant.  His garden, his roses, his other horticultural pursuits were more often a blur as he rushed to work. 

I watched a movie the other night and the main character worked at the local newspaper. 

His job was to sit and watch newspapers by the thousands go flying by, to make sure the machinery was always working right. 

The hours were long, the pay slight, the satisfaction non-existent.  It’s nothing new.   We had a relative who sixty years ago did nothing all day long but nail heels on the bottom of shoes. 

Fact is, it used to be a lot worse.  Not much more than one hundred years ago, children at the age of eight were dying of overwork.  At the same time, trolley operators in Cincinnati were striking for a 17 rather than 18 hour workday.  

Jump back 2000 years ago and lack of much time for leisure was certainly a reality.  The fisherman Jesus visited and suggested they become fishers of men definitely knew what hard work was.

 Their fishing nets were heavy and painstakingly woven out of flax.  Out there in the middle of the lake, for long hours, nets out, nets in. 

Actually, not until our time, have people had so much “leisure” time to fill. 

I would imagine some of you, with all your waking hours so filled you feel as if you meet yourself coming around every corner, are thinking, “What leisure time?” 

So I guess that leads us back to square one.  What do we do with that time not required to earn enough to live on. 

If you have children at home or perhaps even grandchildren, I know a lot of that time is absorbed in their lives.  But surely not all of it.  So, besides putting up our feet and relaxing, what can we productively do with the rest of our leisure?  What should we do? 

Well, we stop at least three times a day, and probably more times than that, to feed our bodies.  Does it not make sense to stop this many times for the feeding of our souls?

 Close our eyes, pause for a minute prayer, and later on meditate for a minute.  Today is the Sabbath which in Hebrew is called Shabbat.  It means “pausing, ceasing.” 

It means that besides this Sunday morning worship time, this Sabbath time, make a host of little Shabbats during the week.  Practice some pausing and some ceasing ere now and then to let your soul catch up with your body.

        “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forget his soul?”
 

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Recent articles Rev. Wyrick has written for this web site are:  
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·         Spring (May 2012)
·         Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)
·         Wayward and Windy (April 2012)
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