Or is that just me?
Yesterday, I experimented with Sabbath Rest.
It didn't go so well.
I woke at five in the morning and all I could think about was rearranging my bookshelves. I lay in bed for quite a while reminding myself that it was supposed to be a day of rest...no projects that had to be done. By 6:30, I was in the kitchen tearing everything off the shelves.
"It will calm me to have this project done," I told myself. "I can't rest when they're so messy."
That was just the start. Before I knew it, the shelves were tidy, the plums were drying in the dehydrator, and I was half way through the application process for a new business license.
I'm pretty sure starting a new business goes against the spirit of what a day of rest is supposed to be about.
There's something deep inside of me that says resting (think: doing nothing) is, at best, a waste of time, and at worst, an unpardonable sin. But God didn't call his people to do nothing, he called them to be still, to honor him and his presence among them. I don't do nothing well. Even if I'm watching TV, I'm probably folding clothes, pitting plums (did I mention we've got a bumper crop of plums?), or thumbing through recipes.
The day wasn't a total loss. In the midst of all the things that kept pulling me to busy-ness, I found a few reminders that the measure of a day isn't always in what you accomplish. Here are a few of those nuggets:
In the process of cleaning off the shelves, I found my book on spiritual rhythms and a book on celebrating Jewish holidays, both of which had chapters about Sabbath.
Because I hadn't prepacked my day, I was able to spend time in the kitchen with the young'un and teach her how to make pancakes.
I did some reading, much of it reminding myself what Jesus did and did not say about the Sabbath (more on that in a later post).
I find myself looking forward to next Saturday when I will set aside time to try again.
Photo credit: queercatkitten via VisualHunt / CC BY-SA
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