It’s Sunday, so let’s spend a few minutes on Isaiah 57:20-21, where God says: There is no peace to the wicked.
But the wise adults I remember from my childhood usually said: “There is no rest for the wicked” or “There is no rest for the weary.”
I started thinking about both expressions after sitting down to write this post, which I envisioned as a followup to Saturday’s effort about spending the day writing. I concluded it by writing:
Write, write, write, I must
I laugh in face of challenges
Beats digging ditches.
A blog post I found from 2007 said the ideas of peace and rest are similar so “no rest for the wicked” probably became common because of the verse from Isaiah being quoted incorrectly from generation to generation. It has been commonly used since at least 1876, when it appeared in the caption of a cartoon on the cover of an issue of Harper’s Weekly.
The root of “no rest for weary” is also biblical, coming from the Book of Lamentations: “Those who pursue us are at our heels; we are weary and find no rest.”
My guess is “no rest for the weary” gained popularity among my people because it sounded nicer than “no rest for the wicked.”
Or, perhaps my ancestors were just always tired.
I was a little tired after spending the day writing, even though, I agree, it would have been much worse to spend Saturday digging ditches. By the end of the day, I had strung together 1,510 words into two letters, a blog post and a column written on behalf of my employer for next Wednesday’s edition of the local newspaper.
In addition to the writing on Saturday, I also managed to:
- Attend a legislative forum organized at the local community college by the Chamber of Commerce. (News Flash: The hot-potato political issue being discussed in my Iowa town seemed to be medical marijuana.)
- Wash a load of laundry.
- Take a nap.
- Watch Blazing Saddles.
Today, after recovering from springing forward, I have writing to tackle that didn’t get done Saturday. And I really want to spend some time later today outside. (The high temperature is predicted to reach 46 degrees. Yippee.)
But catching up on that lost hour will take some time. I have always been an early riser, usually awaking without an alarm clock anytime between 4 and 5 a.m. I awoke at the same time today, but it was a few minutes before 6 due to the lost hour.
Still, I am generally a fan of Daylight Saving Time — especially the longer hours of daylight in the evening, which make it safer to ride a bike. It’s a sure sign that summer is on the way.
Brome Hill 