From the Director of Discipleship | September 1, 2024

My husband, Aaron, is working towards becoming a certified genealogist.  He has traced his own ancestry back to John Alden, a prominent passenger on the Mayflower, and he is now a Deputy Historian for the Mayflower Society.  In doing research on his family history, Aaron discovered the many and varied occupations that his relatives held and their contributions to society.  As it turns out, he comes from a line of police officers, business owners, farmers, factory workers, homemakers, tradesmen, and military veterans.  His great-great-great-great-great grandfather was even one of George Washington’s bodyguards in the Revolutionary War.  Lore has it that this was the man who gave Washington the coin that was tossed across the Rappahannock River.

Aside from bragging about the impressive genetics that I married, his lineage illustrates how the contributions of individuals using their God-given talents and abilities are what makes our society function.  Our country exists because of the efforts of its people, and on the first Monday of September, the nation takes a moment to allow our laborers to rest.  Banks and offices are closed, schools are not in session, and the mail and garbage services wait another day.  Labor Day is meant to be more than just the last socially acceptable day of the year to wear white in public.  It is a day to celebrate the time, skill, sweat, and energy that the citizens of our country put in to make this nation run.  It is a day that is intended for rest.

Rest is not something that we, as a people, are very good at.  We live in a culture where we are always doing something.  Why?  Because there is always something that needs to be done - emails to answer, laundry to fold, kids to carpool, appointments to make...  On what I can only assume is a related note, more coffee is consumed in the United States than any other place in the world.  Statistics show that less than half of all people employed in this country use their vacation time each year.  We are overworked, over-caffeinated, and exhausted.

Yet when we look at it, rest is an interesting and integral part of creation.  God the Father, when he was finished creating the world and all its creatures, when he was finished making man and woman in his image and likeness, created rest on the seventh day.  Mankind was given the command by God to be stewards of his creation.  Just as we are called to care for the earth and the animals, we are called to be stewards of rest.  Just as we can see the glory of God in the beauties of nature, we should see the glory of God in the beauty of rest.

So this Monday, when we gather around our barbecues or go to finish up some lingering summer projects, let us do two things: let us honor the workers who built our nation and keep it going, and let us also honor God by putting down our phones, setting aside our to-do lists, and truly enjoying his creation.

Peace to you,

~ Hallie