December 3, 2004 Encouragement for Today  Finding Godly Rest at
Christmas  Key Verse:  "Yet the news about Him spread all the
more, so that crowds of people came to hear Him and to be healed
of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places
and prayed." Luke 5:15-16 (NIV)   Rest at Christmas time?  "Ha,
ha," I can hear you chuckle.  If you only saw my "to-do" list,
you say.  It looks something like this:  bake cookies, frost
cookies, eat too many cookies, buy presents, wrap presents,
return presents, shop sales, spend too much money, and so on.
Most of us simply don't get enough rest, either in the physical
or spiritual sense.  And the month of December is often the
worst time of year.  We can wear busyness as a badge of honor,
and neglect the havoc it causes in our spiritual lives.  I
wonder if we shouldn't pause in the midst of licking the mixing
beaters, and rediscover God's design for rest.  God modeled the
importance of rest on the seventh day of creation, although He
certainly didn't need