Turning holidays into holy days

Holidays are an invitation toward holy days.

This year, we did a typical Kiwi thing and borrowed a crib (a bach to you North Islanders!) at a beach.

Beaches are my favourite places on the planet. We walked, soaked in the scenery, sat in the stillness, photographed flora and fauna, enjoyed our surroundings and appreciated the power of the pounding surf. We had rest and recreation in abundance.

What is your favourite place—your ‘happy place’? God has wired and inspired you through your personality and makeup. Some of us need company, noise, interaction, movement, action. Others seek solitude and peace. Both of those choices—and right through the personality spectrum—are exactly right for each different person.

So, what lifts and inspires you? What slows you down? What helps you to be re-created by your Creator?

When we discover the rest and recreation God created us for, holidays can become holy days. Rest is a God-given gift, ordained by him from creation. Rest allows us to connect—and re-connect—with God.
We can be as active or as restful, as alone or as social, as we choose. We can contemplate creation or music or poetry. We can close our eyes, or open them wide. We can fill our intellect, or roll up our sleeves to help others.

New Zealanders are immensely blessed to be able to sit in solitude on a beach, or paddle powerfully down a level-four river. And yet, this is nothing compared to resting in the amazing glory of God the Creator.
Look outside your window. Go out of your door. Find—perhaps make—time to appreciate and be re-created by your Creator. Any time that connects you with God is holy time, because God’s presence is richly with you.

The writer of Psalm 139 speaks to God saying:
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways. (vs 1–3)
He then goes on to say:
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
when I was made in the secret place,
when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
all the days ordained for me were written in your book
before one of them came to be. (vs 14–16)

God—the creator of the entire universe and of you—knows you far better than you know yourself. God knows how you are wired. Because he wired you. Most of all, God wants the very best for you.

God knows that for our optimum performance we need time and space—with ourselves, with each other and most importantly with God. So take a holy day holiday, and be re-created by God.

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by Wendy Sanson (c) 'War Cry' magazine, 10 January 2015, pp3.
You can read 'War Cry' at your nearest Salvation Army church or centre, or subscribe through Salvationist Resources.