Sabbath

A day of religious observance and abstinence from work. 

Above is a simple definition of the word or practice of Sabbath. I am currently in a discipleship group in which I am being mentored and taught how to bring people into my life to help them grow as individuals, believers, and become part of my families life. It is a great experience that I am going through with 3 other men with one being our teacher. 

So back to the Sabbath. In our group we are being challenged to look at what it means to Sabbath. Using the word Sabbath as not a day, but an action linked with a day. What is the true meaning behind this day of rest and reflection. While discussing this with my colleagues, one of them shared about the mindset of God in creation. That on the 6th day God created man. Then the very next day he rested. He didn't give man a list of chores to do or instructions on how to do things. He didn't give man busy work, it says he rested. Now the fact that he rested we can guess that man rested in him. The 7th day man spent time with God, growing near to God. 

This was a very interesting point that was brought up and then lead to the idea that we are not working for the weekend or towards the Sabbath, but we Sabbath to get ready for the week of work. To rest in Christ is to push for intentional actions that are restful. Now you may ask what do you mean by intentional actions? Well that depends. 

Lets look at a few things that I know I like to do to unplug. Netflix, oh how many hours I have wasted binge watching episodes on Netflix. You sit down in the morning to watch your favorite show and soon you have watched the whole season and its almost time for dinner. This has happened to the best of us I am sure. Now is that rest? Can we count that as Sabbath? I would argue as would my friend that that is not restful in the intent to Sabbath. Your body and soul aren't getting nourishment through disconnecting mentally and laying on the couch all day. I also like to go on my facebook and see everything that people our posting as far as pictures, videos, and such. This can lead to scrolling through the news feed constantly being unplugged from the world around me. Tuning out my wife, my kids, my pets, and myself doing anything healthy. 

So what can we do to Sabbath? Well I am still figuring this out and talking through this with my wife to hopefully plan out a day each week where we can wake up and enjoy the whole day as the Sabbath doing the things that fill us up. I enjoy reading very much but do not make the time for it or am to tired to do it throughout the week. So reading is something I am looking forward to do as we began to have our day of rest. I also am starting to enjoy writing more and more as you may have guessed, the reason I started this blog. We want to be intentional about doing a study together on this day not because we have to and rush through it, but because we want to and really want to communicate our thoughts and feelings as we dive into scripture. I love having a good cup of  coffee. It maybe the day where we throw our diet to the wind and have that good cup of coffee, latte, mocha, just how we like it. It is a day where we plan to have our favorite meals but we prepare them the night before so that on the Sabbath we don't have to worry about prep, clean up, dishes, and so forth. We can just pop whatever it is in the oven and enjoy it. When the suns out it is wonderful to be outside and enjoy the beauty God has given us, so that would mean going for a walk or relaxing in the back yard, and maybe even taking a nap in the hammock. Playing with your kids and having no care or worry of what needs to get done in the house or at work. Just looking at awe and wonder as your baby discovers a ladybug for the first time or when your 9 year old is telling you about a story she is writing. To have the time to listen and fully engage with the people we love. 

Starting to do Sabbath is choosing to unplug for our overly busy lives and plugging into our God through slowing down to see him, to see our family, see our friends, and to rest our bodies. Putting our phones away, our computers away (unless writing), or tablets away and being with those that we love as well as doing something for ourselves. If you love baking then bake and clean the mess up tomorrow. I love creating and building so maybe some days I will have wood ready and waiting in the garage and build something that I have been thinking about for a while. Yes, you can watch your favorite show if it brings you joy, but you can not let it consume you and suck you in to the point where you are unplugging form the rest of the world and sucked into the tv. 

This all sounds like such a wonderful, almost easy thing to do. Check again. My wife and I are overwhelmed just thinking about figuring out how to do this, especially with a baby and 9 year old (more so the baby). We look at all the things we need to do to maintain, to clean, to cook, prepare, take care of, and so forth. We have schedules and lists that seem to never end and only grow. That is all the more why starting to learn how to Sabbath is so important. Training ourselves to not worry about the lists and to focus on the relationships. To stop the busyness for just one day so that when that day is over you can more effectively handle the busyness for the next 6 days and do things more clearly and focused. To be refilled in such a way that your relationships during your week can benefit because you have been able to reset and refocus on God and loving your neighbor. 

I am working through with my wife and family what it means to Sabbath and how we can incorporate it into our lives. We are nervous and excited. We are having to figure out what we can get done so that we are able to Sabbath. We are figuring out how we can work harder the day before so that the Sabbath for us can be a day of no worries or stress. If you are reading this I hope that you consider what it means to Sabbath and how important it really could be in changing your life as a whole.