6 days shalt thou labor...

IT'S SPRING BREAK!!

I am thankful for the relaxation, but at the same time, breaks really make me realize how dangerous idleness can be. After only a couple of days, I start to feel myself slipping into OLD patterns of thought and behavior, as if having a break from school somehow gives me license to take a spiritual break as well. Of course, that is very untrue, and suddenly I realize why. (Besides all the obvious reasons, that is.)

Exodus 20 says, "Six days shalt thou labor and do all thy work: but the seventh day is the sabbath...in it thou shalt not do any work...for in six days the LORD made the heaven and earth...and rested on the seventh day."

Most of my life I have taken that sabbath part pretty seriously, but tend to ignore the part about working six days. After all, keeping the Sabbath holy is the real commandment here, right? We rest on the seventh day because it's what God did. Well, God also worked VERY hard the six days before that (you know, creating EVERYTHING), so we'd do well to follow that example also. After all, the commandment doesn't say, "Six days shalt thou labor if you HAVE to," or, "If you feel like it." It simply says, "Six days shalt thou labor." That doesn't mean I need to go to work six days a week...but it does mean that my "free" days should be spent laboring for the Lord, not in sloth or vanity.

What do these things have in common?...

Anyone remember Stretch Armstrong?  Anybody, anybody??

...They can all be STRETCHED.

Like so:

 

 
Of all of these items, I am the only one that really benefits from being stretched.  The others are stretched primarily for the use or amusement of the stretcher.  I do hope, as a stretchee, that I may be used by the stretcher...And if He is amused in the process (as he SURELY must be at times), that is an added bonus.  :)  Stretching means growth, and for me, if not for that slinky up there, growth is a good thing.