"REST AND PRAY"

While Labor day has become a day of parades and parties with barbecue it was not always so. Labor Day became an officially sanctioned federal holiday in the aftermath of some of the most turbulent labor unrest in the history of the United States.

The first significant Labor Day parade occurred in 1882, years before city and state governments passed legislation dedicated to remembering the contributions of the workers in building this nation. The federal holiday celebrated on the first Monday in September (tomorrow) became law partly because Congress and President Grover Cleveland hastily reacted to a union strike turned violent that had crippled the country's railways. The bill creating the Labor Day holiday was rushed unanimously through Congress near the end of summer in 1894 while U.S. Marshalls, along with approximately 12,000 U.S. Army troops worked to quell the violence of the railroad strike.

Today, Labor Day is a federal holiday that celebrates the unparalleled contribution of the working class to make our country the strongest and most productive in the world.

While Labor Day usually gets celebrated with a hectic and busy schedule of parades, barbecues, household projects and road trips, we should all take note that we do not get much time to rest and meditate. Rest is important to good mental health and a strong body. Jesus commended rest and after His disciples had been on a mission and were exhausted, in Mark 6:30 Jesus said to them, "Come aside by yourselves to a deserted place and rest awhile." Jesus, Himself, liked to get away from the crowd to rest and pray and spend time with His Father. After three days of teaching the multitude and the feeding of the five thousand, Matthew 14:23 tells us that, "when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray."

Rest and communing with our Heavenly Father strengthens us in our faith and makes us better servants for Him. I pray that everyone has a safe and enjoyable day off tomorrow, but I also hope that you will take a few moments for yourself and read your Bible, pray and rest.

(Second paragraph from San Jose Mercury News, Friday, August 30, 2013)