I keep hearing in the media that people have more time on their hands in lockdown.
Perhaps that’s true for some. But it’s at best half the story. For some, this has indeed been a time to unwind and take stock. But for key workers, or households where two parents work and are now having to fit teaching their children into their routines too, life has become much busier.
And as for Zoom, that may be filling every corner of your life whether you are working or not!
Whether you have plenty to do or not, our hearts are a different matter. It’s possible to have nothing to do and a heart which won’t let you rest.
It’s also possible to navigate the busyness of our lives in the current world – lockdown or not – with a much more contented and peace-filled heart, but only with God’s help.
This week I’ve been taking the time to read a book which is seeking to help us find that contented rhythm of life, and I’m finding it so helpful I want to recommend it to you.
It’s called Reset: Living a Grace-Paced Life in a Burnout Culture, by David Murray. You can buy it here: https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/products/22180/reset
Murray is a Scottish pastor and Old Testament Lecturer based in the USA. He unashamedly writes for men – not just because this is a male issue, but because through years of experience pastoring burnt-out men, he’s seen the specific ways the rush of our culture affects men. And he writes to combat the way men fall into the headlong rush of the world.
There’s a companion book specifically aimed at women too, co-written with his wife, called Refresh: Embracing a Grace-Paced Life in a World of Endless Demands. You can buy it here: https://www.10ofthose.com/uk/products/22597/refresh
Reset is so good because it offers 10 chapters called “Repair Bays”, as if we are finely-tuned cars needing a good service. Some chapters are more diagnostic, helping us see what patterns of life are destructive or where we need a bigger picture of God and the salvation he offers in Jesus Christ.
Other chapters are more practical, helping us address both what we believe and how we live, in order that we might live a more balanced life – a life more closely lived to Jesus our Lord.
What I’ve really appreciated is Murray’s insistence that God our Father cares for all of our lives – body and soul, at work and at home, relationships and tasks, moral, spiritual, physical.
He writes in an easily accessible style with the aim that we understand God’s amazing grace – his generous undeserved love to us – in every sphere of life, and are therefore living in the light of grace in each day and with each passing year. I’ve found it very insightful and helpful read.
If that sounds like a book you could benefit from, why not get one today? And do get in touch with me – I’d love to discuss it with you. If enough people are interested, we might even start a book group.
Here’s to living in the light of grace each day!
With love in Christ,
Tim
