Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. Mark 6:31
There is a story told about two lumberjacks, one young and wanting to prove himself by cutting down the most trees in a day. The other a seasoned older one who, through experienced learned how to do the job efficiently. One day the young man asked the older man if he would accept the challenge of competing with him to see who could cut down the most trees in a day. The older man thought a minute and then accepted.
The rest of the loggers were taking bets who would win and had their favorite. They stood waiting for the ax to drop, and when it did they were off. As predicted the younger logger pulled ahead and was going at breakneck speed. Whereas the older one would stop every so often and take a break. It looked like he was going to lose big time. But about 3/4 of the way the experienced logger began to catch up and quickly passed the younger one. The other loggers were cheering them on and in the end the older logger won by a fairly large margin. The young man humbled came over and asked, how did you do that?
The older logger said, it’s simple, every time it looked like I was taking a break, I was sharpening my ax. That had two benefits, I got rested physically and mentally while at the same time I had a sharpened ax that was able to cut through the wood like butter. It’s no different with us spiritually. At least daily if not several times a day we need to take a break from what’s going on around us and sharpen our minds and bodies with the Word in His presence. It not only gives what seems to be a momentary boost, but it prepares us to cut through what still lies before us that needs to get done. Think about it, if Jesus needed to take a break from the world and sharpen Himself with the Word in God’s presence, then surely we should follow His lead.
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