Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Taking care of your soul”
Our Bible verse for today: “Jesus reclined at the table
Our thought for today: “We need to savor the special moments”
Have you ever noticed that you can’t pay attention in a hurry? When you’re in a hurry and both your body and your mind are racing, it’s tough to pay very close attention to anything. At such times it’s also virtually impossible to soak in and truly savor special moments. I wonder how many special moments I’ve missed or failed to appreciate in my life because I’m often in such a hurry.
Jesus was never in a hurry. Even though the crowds were frequently pressing in upon Him and even though the demands of ministry were usually intense, He always seemed to have time for people and for the things that were truly important – like reclining at the table and simply enjoying His friends.
If you read the Gospels you realize that this was something Jesus did fairly frequently. Evidently to Him one of the most valuable things He could do with His time was to simply sit back, relax, and enjoy being with people. He didn’t feel pressed to get through a meeting so He could move on to other ministry tasks. He just relaxed, soaked it in, and enjoyed it. Sometimes this is referred to as “The gift of loitering.” Just hanging out with your hommies.
Recently I spent a couple of hours visiting with some friends. They live out in the country on a nice piece of land. It was a warm summer day and there was a slight breeze blowing. We were sitting in the back yard in the shade, gazing out over a serene country scene, drinking iced tea and just talking. As I was sitting there soaking it in and truly enjoying it, it occurred to me how seldom I have times like that. I remember commenting to my friends, “This is really good. I need to do more of this.” One of them responded, “Yeah, me too. I’m usually way too busy.”
That relaxing time of just hanging with my friends was deeply satisfying and was good for my soul. I want more of it. Lance Witt once remarked, “I want more slow and deep in my life, and less fast and shallow.” Yeah, that’s me. That’s what I want – more slow and deep and less fast and shallow.
How about you? Would it do your soul good to have more slow and deep and less fast and shallow? We would all benefit from being more like Jesus in this respect. We need to cultivate the gift of loitering.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 