What refreshes you?  When you are feeling spent what do you do to recharge?  Maybe exercise helps you.  Perhaps you enjoy a nice walk along the beach.  Maybe you need prayer or solitude.  We all have different ways to recharge our batteries.  I find that I get recharged often by spending time with friends and spending time with God.  I am coming back refreshed from spending a few days away with some good friends on vacation.  I recently read an article about the need for “mini vacations” or two hour blocks of time to de-stress and refill.  The author suggested that each week you should figure out how to do this mid-week sometime.  For him it was a Wednesday night ritual of his hot tub, a glass of wine, and some prayer time with God.  Let’s look at a familiar passage of scripture that talks about being refreshed.

The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.

2 

    He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,

3 

    he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
    for his name’s sake.

4 

Even though I walk
    through the darkest valley,
I will fear no evil,
    for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
    they comfort me.

Green pastures and quiet waters sound refreshing but the key for me in this passage is that it is God who refreshes our soul.  Whatever your method to experience refreshing in your life, make sure that you are incorporating some time with God.  He is the only one who can and does refresh us spiritually.  When we are refreshed spiritually the rest of our life tends to stay more refreshed as well.

In His Grip,

Pastor Dave