Sunday morning, October 17.  I sit alone in the upper room typing on the laptop and looking out the window at the maples across the street, and at the fallen leaves and the still green grass.  A tangle of power lines passes through the branches.  I have time to think this morning instead of running off to another hectic day of work and obligations.  I think God wants us to rest on Sundays for this reason, to contemplate and reflect, to enjoy his creation and to trust in his provision aside from our own efforts to keep ahead.  We need to remind ourselves that our lives are entirely in his hands.  He gives us the strength to work and the opportunities but commands us to be aware that, as it says in the book of Psalms,

Unless the LORD builds the house,
its builders labor in vain.
Unless the LORD watches over the city,
the watchmen stand guard in vain.


In vain you rise early
and stay up late,
toiling for food to eat—
for he grants sleep to those he loves.