Sabbath

Sometimes with fundraising you just need a break from thinking all the time. So I came home this weekend to enlist some help with all the stamping of envelopes, address labels, etc., but also to spend some quality time relaxing. No one knows how to relax quite like my sister. Her room might have had a carpet a few years ago, but I think that was before the entire Chinese army moved in underneath her bed. I really don't know how she does it. When my room is messy it goes on my to-do list and I take care of it as soon as I have some time. Not Barbara. I think she told me a total of four times today that she was bored. Yes bored. I don't remember the last time I was actually bored... oh wait, classes, okay so about a month ago. The point of the story is that as I was heading out to run some errands on my "relaxing weekend" I popped my head into her room to find her laying on her bed, still in pjs, watching a movie on her laptop. Shower? No way, those are for the weak and unrested. Clothes? That requires finding something clean and wearable amidst the Kung Pao Dynasty. Why bother with things that "could" get done, when they don't have to get done this minute and I could be sitting here doing nothing instead? Don't get me wrong, she works very very hard and has a beautiful spirit of generousity about her. But her ability to literally only focus on the task at hand, in this case, relaxing, is fascinating to me. It's a mentality that I'm not sure I'll ever understand, but I would love to try and learn some of it. My mind goes a bazillion miles an hour. Even when I'm watching a movie I have to bring along the toenail polish or the notes I want to write to people or the stack of old magazines I've been collecting to collage with. I never just sit still and do nothing. I never leave work un-attended, even if it means I just worry about it in my head. As a result I am often rushing and frazzled. But there are times in Scripture where we are commanded to "be still".

I've been reading about sabbath lately, and I am very excited to have built it into my plans for this summer. I figure, there was a reason God created Sabbath right? And it doesn't just mean "today's the day to go to church", and it certainly does not still come with all the implications of the old Jewish law. However, God says,

"Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work."
Exodus 20:8

"You shall not do any work!" It seems like that should be all the commanding I need to just drop everything and crawl into bed with a good book (or movie, in my sister's case). And it is all the commanding I need... when I remember to read it and to carve out that time for rest. I forget sometimes that rest is exactly what I need to make me MORE productive later. Not that productivity should be the goal, but it helps to remember that actually taking the time to truly rest will restore my energy both physically and emotionally. Since I am ridiculously "Type-A" I had to write the word "sabbath" in my planner to remind myself that Sunday is the day each week I'm going to rest. The type-a-ness goes one step further because I actually wrote a list of things to-do during the sabbath day. Not things that need to be done, but just a few specific things that will help me relax. For example, tomorrow I am planning on taking my dog for a walk, taking some pictures outside, and sitting in a big comfy chair and drinking hot tea from my favorite mug. I love those things, and I love that tomorrow I get to do them. The verse says that the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. Why does it say "to" and not "for" or "mandated by"? I think it's because He wants us to know that the point of sabbath is freedom. Freedom from the daily grind, freedom from structure, and freedom unto the Lord. When we are free unto the Lord we are free to be ourselves to the glory of His name. I'm allowed to put work aside? I'm allowed to just be me, wanting to sleep and bake cookies and knit all day long? Okay, I can do that! Even just that thought of freedom creates praise in my heart for the Lord and His ultimate goodness. I'm starting to think maybe God and my sister are on to something with this whole resting business.