On Sunday, we heard from Matthew 11, 25-30, part of which includes these words from Jesus: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Once upon a time, a priest was beginning his summer vacation. He had chosen to drive across two states to see his family. On the first leg of the journey, he had been driving all night and by morning was still far from his destination. He decided to stop at the next city he came to and park somewhere quiet so he could get an hour or two of sleep. As luck would have it, the quiet place he chose happened to be on one of the city’s major jogging routes. No sooner had he settled back to snooze when there came a knocking on his window. He looked out and saw a jogger running in place. “Excuse me, sir,” the jogger said, “do you have the time?” The priest looked at the car clock and answered, “8:15.” The jogger said thanks and left. The priest settled back again, and was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window and another jogger. “Excuse me, sir, do you have the time?” “8:25!” The jogger said thanks and left. Now the priest could see other joggers passing by and he knew it was only a matter of time before another one disturbed him. To avoid the problem, he got out a pen and paper and put a sign in his window saying, “I do not know the time!” Once again, he settled back to sleep. He was just dozing off when there was another knock on the window. “Sir, sir? It’s 8:45!”
Let us pray. “O God, we come to you as our place of refuge and lay all of our cares at your feet. We thank you that your Word reminds us to come to you when we are feeling weary and that you promise to bring rest to our souls. Help us to pace ourselves well this summer, so that we will be able to see your goodness all around us. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.”
