Jon did his morning adult Bible Study on the third commandment yesterday as befits Labor Day weekend. The third is, “Remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy.” It’s one of these foundational human rhythm gifts given to us by a God who loves us, a God who actually never needed to rest after six days of creating- he coulda just kept on going, but, instead, modelled it as a way of teaching us worker bees to rest and make it part of our life. Not just that, it’s a commandment of the people of God to extend to everyone they know and work with- let your servants rest, let your farm beasts rest, even let your land rest because stopping is good, resting is good, being someone who finds identity away from labor and in the sheer being-ness of existance is part of our calling. Be the dad who knows their little one needs a nap and so will go in and lie down with the little one to model rest, to share in it, to say, ‘See? Rest is good. Let’s stop together.’ I wonder how many of us do that for one another even after naptime becomes something of the past.
My son, Jesse, is reading, “The Jungle”- a real ‘what to read when you think you’ve got it bad’ commentary on the tragic working conditions for recent immigrants to our country one hundred years ago. Yesterday, we did a family shopping trip for some clothes and groceries and this is the part of the blog when I remind everyone that Aldi lets their checkers sit. They sit on nice swivel chairs and do a great job and why do checkers historically stand? Who the hell knows. To make it look like they could run and get you replacement eggs in five seconds flat? To quick grab the dropped penny before it rolls under the register table? Come on, man. Let checkers keep their jobs and let checkers sit. We’ll all be better for it. Aldi, you blessed weird little store, keep doing what you’re doing.
And then we were driving home with our truck full of polo shirts and socks, sweet potatoes and off brand Nutty Buddies when a gorgeous black and orange Maclaren drove past us. We were not the only people who noticed this magnificent automobile because, while we were stopped at a light, the car just beside the Maclaren rolled down its window and offered the passenger of the Maclaren a half bag of chips. It was as close to a real life Grey Poupon moment as I may ever experience.
Today we’re going on a hike, picnic and a late afternoon quarry swim because entrance is half off after 4pm. I told JOn I didn’t want to swim in the quarry because the water’s too deep in a quarry…..
But I did just give him crap about not watching “Breaking Away” and those guys all hung out and swam in a quarry so what kinda jerk would I be if I didn’t just allow 50 feet of water to be beneath me and my floating human body in the water on the last official day of summer?
So there ya go. It’s all roadside fruit stands, Maclarens, quarries and hiking trails over here. It’s all packing coolers, lacing up tennis shoes and a thick layer of humidity. A hornet’s nest in our tree, a fire ring that could use a flame, a walking path around the perimeter and school starts tomorrow. I start my new part-time job in one week. I allow for life to be what life is and wonder what it would be like to see a neighbor over-worked and over-tired and gently take them by the hand and say, “Come rest with me.”