A Year of Sabbaths (Week 24): Gathering Wood

(1964 Ford Pickup...like my dad's)

"And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding, 

in order that we might know Him who is true, and we are in Him who is true, 

in His Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God and eternal life."

(1 John 5:20)

We somehow squeezed in to my dad's 1964 Ford pickup-my dad, mom, and two little sisters, our capricious fox terrier, Jiggs, and  a picnic lunch. My dad would put his chainsaw and axe in the back and we would bounce out to the woods looking for just the right tree.  Once we found it, my dad was an expert at cutting it down while we all yelled, "Timber!" We would then take a break for lunch, sitting on the tailgate. The woods seemed especially quiet after the roar of the chainsaw and my mother's sandwiches tasted even better in the clean air scented with the aroma of cut wood. 

Soon, it was back  to work.  My dad cut the tree and split the bigger logs into pieces that even my sisters could carry to the truck. My job was to stack the wood in the back of the pickup. And I stacked that wood tight.  "Great job, Geoff," my dad would say, "That is a good looking stack and I don't think we'll lose any on the way home." I stood a little taller and worked a little faster knowing that there was a candy bar and an ice-cold pop waiting for me in the cooler. Life was good. 

We are almost halfway through this year-long Sabbath experiment, and our practice of Sabbath has become a bit like those old outings to the woods.  From our spot on the tailgate of our lives, my wife and I take a break from the roar that is raising boys.  They are loud.  The oldest says he wants to go hunting. The middle one has "cleaned out his closet." The youngest is playing his new song on the piano. There's work lying all around us, waiting. But we need nourishment; a reminder that the Son of God has come.  So we stop. We watch football and read books and worship in Him who is true and our souls are filled up as we breathe air scented with the aroma of growing feet and eternal life.   

I know that soon it will be back to work; trimming off the rough spots, shaping three little boys into three little men that will grow up to take their place in the world.  In the midst of it all, we are reminded that sometime, in the near future, we should come to the woods without any children.  But not today. Today we come back to a new week of work, but refreshed with a new perspective. We stack them high and tight knowing that they will be bounced around a little bit. There are some rough patches along the way, but we have also received great encouragement on the back of the pickup, "Great job, guys!  That is a good looking stack of boys and I don't think we'll lose any on the way home."  

Church Stopping. Less doing. More being.