Genesis chapter 2

I really struggle at times to take time off work. Life seems so busy, there are accounts to do, tax returns, letters to writes, payrolls to run, Vat Returns to complete - I lead such an exciting life! Then there are the weekly church notices, which recently I have been doing on Sunday morning, getting up extra early so I have enough time to do them. All this doesn't include the time I want to spend on Photoshop, creating, designing, just messing around and what about spending time with the family, taking the children out for the day? There are tags to make, papers to create, places to see, photographs to take, where does the time go and how can I fit everything in?

Yet look at what God did in six days - he created:

1. Heavens and earth, day and night;
2. Sky;
3. Land and seas, vegetation;
4. Sun, moon, stars;
5. Fish and birds;
6. Animals, man and woman.

And on the seventh day, God rested.

On the seventh day He rested (I'm repeating that because I don't think I ever really read this and take it in!). He didn't try and squeeze in another set of accounts, or try and tidy up the office, he didn't carry on and try to finish off that job for Mr A or Mrs B. No, he rested. He might have just fooled around with Jesus and the Holy Spirit, read a book, done a jigsaw, gone out for the day, or just sat in his chair not doing anything in particular. Whatever it was he did, he was resting, just resting. Not thinking about his "to do" list, or what was going to happen tomorrow, or about how he should have done this, that or the other whilst creating everything. Nope, he just rested.

And whilst there's a little voice telling me that he deserved to rest after all that work creating the heavens and earth, sun, moon and stars, seas and sky, and so on, it also tells me that I'm not working hard enough, that I don't deserve time off, time away from the computer, because after all, what have I done that could possibly compare with what God did? Well, the voice is right in one respect, how can what I do possibly compare with what God did?

But God gave us a day of rest, he thought it so important that it was one of the Ten Commandments. So the voice telling me to carry on working can go take a running jump, because my God has said we need to rest,. And if we spend all our time working, how can we possibly have the time to fully appreciate all that God has blessed us with?