Starting on my other blog ONE A DAY, YOUR SPIRITUAL VITAMINS on Nov
1...a 3 day series on HOW TO LESSEN ANXIETY.
click on
the link below
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.
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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:
·
Here Comes Summer (July 2012)
·
Spring
(May 2012)
·
Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow (April 2012)
·
Wayward and Windy (April 2012)
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"Positive,
powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understaning and appreciation of Lincoln...(Lt. Colonel
C.A.Olsen (Ret.) Asbury
College (Professor Ret.)
"Wyrick has
authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of
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(Maynard Pittendreigh, Presbyterian Minister)
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author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn.)
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