There are seven days in a week. One of these days, according to the holy Bible account, is meant for rest. Most of us don’t really know what rest is. We may have some idea of ceasing from work we do the other five to six days, but we don’t really know rest.
Dan. B. Allender presents to the reader a paradigm to consider.
The book is part of the Ancient Practice Series put out by Thomas Nelson. The series follows seven basic practices of the early church. When completed this series will cover: Tithing, Prayer, Fasting, Seeking God, The Lord’s Table, The Liturgical Year, The Pilgrimage. This book on the Sabbath is the fourth in the series.
There is a good discussion of time. “Time is sure and solid and we have no control over it,” notes Allender. It was Augustine who stated “The present doesn’t exist. There is only the past and the future. The past is entered by memory and is spent, gone, and mostly regretted. The future cannot be known or remembered. Therefore, its uncertainty causes us worry.”
We all need rest. Life is work to most of us. “We live in a time-troubled era. We often indulged in overwork and end up overwhelmed and exhausted.”
Studies have been done. “Studies tell us that 37 percent of Americans take fewer than seven days off per year. Only 14 percent take vacations of two weeks or longer,” Marilyn Gardner in the “Christian Science Monitor” has observed.
David Whyte in his book, “Crossing the Unknown Sea: Work as a Pilgrimage of Identity,” has stated, “We speak continually of saving time, but time in its richness is most often lost to us when we are busy without relief.”
“The Sabbath remembers creation and anticipates re-creation,” Allender says.
Allender presents a paradigm where the Sabbath is a day of joy and play. He sets before us a blueprint that we can adopt. “The Sabbath is the day to experiment with beauty that teases your hunger to know more glory,” he suggests.
“Joy is lighter than sorrow and escapes our grasp with a fairylike, ephemeral adieu,” he says. “One calls us to action and the other to grace.”
The problem is that we don’t know what to do with joy when we find it. This book suggests we can regain it. “We can only receive it and allow it to simmer, settle, and then in due season, depart; leaving us alive and happy but desiring to hold on to what can’t be grasped or controlled.”
There is a forward by Phyllis Tickle, the general editor of the series. Dan B. Allender is a therapist in private practice and also the founder of Mars Hill Graduate School. He is married and has three children.
This book is a must have for our shelves if we desire to understand rest. It should be available at your local bookstore or by ordering from www.thomasnelson.com.
What better way to rest than to read a book. It doesn’t matter what genre you read. Reading expands the mind and motivates the inner person to action. If you need any help in this area the best looking book reviewer in Santa Monica will be glad to help you. Contact him at smdp_review@yahoo.com and allow him to suggest some guidelines.
