Keeping the Sabbath Holy

 With the falling leaves comes the season of busyness.  School is well underway, sports banquets are planned, festivals and craft shows crowd the weekends and endless errands usher in the holidays.  Believe it or not, the end of the year is near and before we wrap our heads around the fact that 2023 will be history soon, 2024 will be here.  As I'm thinking of all this, I decided to re-read chapter 7 of the book Holy Hygge. Creating a Place for People to Gather and the Gospel to Grow, by Jamie Erickson...the chapter on rest.

Who has time to rest when Thanksgiving is just 2 weeks away?

Well...according to Our Maker...we better carve out time to rest, because it is not a suggestion.  It's a command!  A command that He modeled, Himself when He finished creating.  Like author Jamie Erickson reminds us, "for six whole days, God masterfully crafted a sanctuary that would reveal His glory.  For six whole days, he worked.  But by the seventh day, His work was finished.  It wasn't just done.  It was complete, lacking nothing.  In response, He rested.  With purpose, God set aside His work, and in turn, set apart the day.  The seventh was unlike the previous six; it was holy.  In the same way He had blessed the animals and humans, God blessed the day of rest." (p. 169)

By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done. Genesis 2: 2-3

The seventh day was, indeed, like no other during the creation process.  It was a blessed day...a holy day...the first holiday ever! The only day we can be certain that God actually rested. He is the God of order.  Everything He does is purposely done.  Nothing is random in the Hands of God.  He rested, perhaps not so much because He was tired, but because He wanted to show us what a balanced life looks like: working diligently and methodically for 6 days and setting aside a day to be restored in mind, spirit and body.  

How hard is it to achieve this balance?  VERY! Just ask a working outside-the-home Mom of young children...

But...how necessary is it?  VERY!  Just ask a working outside-the-home Mom of young children...or...anyone?

Like the author of Holy Hygge suggests, we live in a hurry-up/rush, rush society.  You drag your feet, you get replaced.  You don't hustle, you stay on the bench.  You don't get busy, you don't get promoted.  You don't move, you don't get noticed.  But there is an antidote to the madness: being intentional about setting aside a day to say no.  

Some of us cannot keep Sunday as our day of rest for different reasons.  However, we need to take a good, intentional look at our calendar and see which day would be our sabbath.  Then, work in creating a routine that allows us to accomplish the critical things that need to be done around that day we set apart, so when questions about commitments come up, we can say, "not on my sabbath." Easier said than done, I know.  But not impossible.  And we probably won't get it perfectly taken care of right away either.  But we need to strive for it.  It's God's commandment...and the reason this, seemingly curious idea made it to the law was because God knows us, He knows our limitations and He knows we need it in order to function properly.  Let's not forget about it.  Let's not skip it.

As we rake the last autumn leaves on our yard, and get ready to jump into the holidays, let's remember to keep the holy day, holy...even if the best we can do to start is to set aside part of it, until we figure out our routine, always under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, cooperating with Him, as He shows us the way.  

Prayer:

Dear Lord, I know I can't do this alone.  I need Your strength to help me figure out how to keep the Sabbath Holy.  I am often overwhelmed by all the responsibilities that seem to fall on my shoulders.  Help me open my eyes to realize the truth of what I really need to do and to discern what you have placed on my to-do list.  May my work be done unto You, Lord...not unto me.  Give me the understanding to know what You have designed for me to do as supposed to what my pride decided it was my lot.  Show me what I need to release, and what I need to receive in Your Precious Name, Lord Jesus, so my life can reveal a glimpse of Your eternal desire to restore us.  Amen!

(prayer inspired by the prayer found on page 191 of the book Holy Hygge)