THOUGHT for the week

October is a time many in this part of the world take a holiday. Whether it is because of the school break or because the main tourism season is past or because the weather is heading towards winter, it seems a good time to recharge the batteries.

Some will enjoy a trip to the sun, others a city break. Some go for fancy hotels and others for a budget option. Still more stay home but have a different pace of life for a week or two. Long lies, time to catch up on books or films, the chance to go for longer walks as the leaves change colour, or dig out that project that was put off until a rainy day.

As Jesus travelled around with the disciples, mostly on foot, he went through three years of different seasons. We know he took time out on his own; we know he made time to be with the disciples on their own. He paced himself and those with him.

Full on sometimes – thousands of people wanting to hear his stories and then needing food, answering the legalists who wanted to catch him out, preparing for the challenges he knew would come his way.

Relaxed at other times – enough to be accused of being a glutton and a drunkard, however unlikely that may be. Observing the sabbath but teaching that it was made to help people, not to constrain them with rules.

The last verse of John's Gospel tells us: ‘There are also many other things that Jesus did; if every one of them were written down, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written.' It can be easy to feel we have to keep going all the time, that there are never enough hours in the day.

If we're trying to follow Jesus's example, we'll enjoy the breaks and then be more effective in the busier times.