As an extra little tidbit in this morning’s sermon, my pastor said that the word Sabbath somehow gets its root in the word “stop.” Makes sense, right?
So, what does it mean to stop?
As a little kiddo, I hated Sundays because Mom and Dad always took naps. I was bored. I watched the tee vee and played with my sisters. I eventually came to the point where I wanted to sleep on Sunday afternoons, as I got older.
Now, though, I am having trouble coming to grips with the idea of stopping. I’m dying for a break. Dying. I’d love to just sit down and do nothing. I have problems with this, though: (1) I have a lot of ‘extra’ things going on. Somehow, I have said yes to quite a number of things that happen every week or every other week. I miss my house a lot. (B) Not that my house is the picture of organized and pretty, but my mind has trouble relaxing when there are magazines to sort, laundry to wash, and surfaces to wipe and walls that I’m dying to decorate. (III) I love the internet–facebook, xanga, email, pieces of flair; sometimes I’m stimulated, other times I’m distracted or brain dead. (IV) I have this boy who I love to talk to on the phone. Sometimes–just maybe sometimes–I should sleep instead of chat. But what can I say? (E) Television sucks me in, sometimes.
But wait. What exactly does it mean to stop? I’m thinking that there are two types of “stopping” when we’re talking about this whole sabbath idea. Maybe. I’m just throwing this out there to the wild internet cosmos.
1. Doing something low key and enjoyable. This would be different for everyone, of course. For me, it may include blogging, facebooking (including chat and pieces of flair), or watching television. Perhaps scrapbooking if I’m feeling up to it– or old-fashioned journaling while listening to some of my favorite music. I also enjoy sleep a great deal.
2. Intentionally dedicating a certain period of time to reflect in, dialogue with, rest in or receive from the Lord. For me, this typically means listening to uplifting Christ-centered music while reading from God’s word or talking to him. Or I might talk to God about everything that’s been on my mind as I fall asleep for a nap–extra sleep time.
But maybe I’m wrong. Maybe numero dos is the only real “stop” God means for us. Maybe He only wants us to sabbath with Him. We owe Him much more than that, anyway. Maybe we should be sure that, when we stop [–not if we stop], we shift our focus entirely to Him. This way, we don’t only recharge a little bit physically and a tad bit emotionally, but we recenter our hectic lives to His plan and what He says is important so we are refreshed body, mind, and soul.
At any rate, I should definitely be more intentional about planning time to sabbath-sub-one and sabbath-sub-two. I actually had a conversation with God about that yesterday morning. I was complaining to Him that I wish I had more down time to enjoy–to see my house, reflect, think, recenter, … rest. He suggested that I plan a day for just that. Without looking at my calendar, I picked a day that I recalled was not taken yet– a Saturday just before Thanksgiving. I thought that something would come up and I’d just have to be strong and say no when it came along.
Of course: there’s a party that evening that I simply will not say no to. A baby shower. So, I’ve adjusted my schedule a little bit: I am going to take the Friday evening before to sabbath-sub-one and that Saturday morning/afternoon to sabbath-sub-two. Sleeping will be a nice divide between them.
[Note: Don’t you call me to do something that Saturday morning. And only extremely low-key things that Friday night are possible. I’m talking right next to pajama activities. You’ve been warned.]