Re:  "blissful days tending healthy plants, reveling in the glory of creation"  Ha!  Isn't that the truth - - those weeds grow so fast!  We have a small garden and I think we all have that vision of what gardening will be like, and the reality is a little different.  More appreciation for farmers, eh?

Re:  Sabbath rest and Lk. 14:5:  Friend of mine was building an  outbuilding on his property, and rented an excavator to dig the foundation.  Now, while that is of course actually work, he really enjoys running the excavator, as he now works a desk-ish sort of job.  He didn't want to run the excavator on Sunday in order to keep the spirit of the Sabbath.  While describing this to his brother, his brother commented thus:  keep digging, there has to be an ox in there somewhere!