Sabbath

My last blog post I talked about what the Lord has been teaching me as far as just resting in His presence. While I have been learning and wrestling with the freeing and redeeming truth that we are called and welcomed by our Father to rest in this presence daily at any moment, I have also had my eyes opened to the sacredness and necessity of Sabbath. Sabbath is simply a day of rest where we are free to just be with the Lord and take a break from the responsibility that demands most of our time. Before coming on the race, this is something that the Lord has been slowing teaching me about through the Holy Spirit and the books such as “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” and “Emotional Healthy Spirituality” (I highly recommend). I learned that practicing Sabbath is actually walking in obedience with the Lord, and it LOOKS DIFFERENT for everyone. It’s a day where we get to fully focus our eyes on our father and rest in His presence. WHAT?! It is literally serving and worshipping our Father to take a break from all the crazy directions the world is pulling us in and REST. Thats so sweet of our Dad! 

As I have been fortunate to be able to experience Sabbath as something that is automatically apart of my schedule, I have been BEYOND humbled by the importance of making it a priority. Which, as I have been processing this, I have already had the thoughts “well yeah, it’s easy to do that here, but when I get home and I have a job and work and errands and people to see…that’s not really possible”. SO I understand how incredibly difficult it is to make it a practice and to even see as a possibility. 

Although, the Lord has really been challenging me these past couple of weeks. First, it’s just a matter of being humbled. We aren’t meant to do it all. If the Creator of the Universe had to rest for a day, what makes us think we don’t need to? But most importantly it has allowed me to redirect my attention on my Fathers eyes each week. It’s so easy to get distracted and become filled with so many worldly things we want to accomplish, and they may all be GREAT things, but those great things start to pile up and slowly steal our attention away from the Greatest one of all, our Father and ultimate provider of rest and peace. 

When I heard it put plainly, “Looking past Sabbath is simply choosing other things over the Lord”, initially I had a lot of excuses, but then ultimately was convicted. This afternoon as I was reading through Acts 5, I was consumed with this prayer and thought: I don’t want there to ever be a time where I get so distracted on what my wants are, that I miss what the Father has for me. (Specifically in response to Acts 5:42 “Day after day, in the temple courts and from house to house, they never stopped proclaiming the good news that Jesus is the Messiah”) If we want to be a people who proclaims the good news through loving and serving others, being present and showing up and sharing truth, then we HAVE to take time to be filled up by our Father MORE than just our structured “quiet times” in the mornings. 

If it feels like I’m preaching at you, I’m not! I understand the busy demands that fill our days (friends, errands, work, homework, class, kids, family, etc.) And I KNOW that it’s really hard to make of habit…I am slowly learning and still arguing with God on this one, but wow have I gotten a little SWEET taste of this gift and command our Father has blessed us with. 

Sabbath has looked different for me throughout my time on the race (water coloring, napping in a hammock, reading for fun, prayer walks, spending hours in the word, coffee dates with friends, watching a movie and maybe even a little run or playing soccer with kids in a field) Whatever provides me with rest and worship to my Father that day. But regardless, when I take this day a priority, I can walk into my week feeling at peace and knowing that I am only meant to do what He is asking me to do. When I feel EMPTY , I am reminded that He is with me in it all.