A Day of Rest

The Sabbath. It has fascinated me for a long time. A day of rest each week...is that possible? I can't figure out how my family would fit that in during the school year. Being married to a teacher means lots of grading to do on the weekends. But summer is coming, and we're going to give this a try! Sundays after church are going to be about relaxing and focusing on relationships instead of "what needs to be done". Here are some thoughts from Joanne Heim that make me desire and anticipate the Sundays to come...

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. (Mark 2:27)...God created the Sabbath for our benefit, for our enjoyment. The Sabbath is a day unlike any other - a day for rest and relaxation and fun and family and friends. The Sabbath is supposed to be a guilt-free vacation day each week - a day to not work and not feel guilty about not working! It is one day not measured by how productive you were or how many things you checked off your to-do list."

"Instead of keeping the Sabbath holy - set apart, different, special - we've made it a day like any other. We skip the rest God offers for a hodgepodge of last loads of laundry, trips to the grocery store, last-minute school projects. We fall into bed, feeling like we've almost caught up, and then wake up Monday mornings tired, unrested, with another week ahead to somehow get through."

"God gets involved and has to "make me lie down" (Psalm 23) because rest must be taught; we must learn to rest. Why doesn't rest come naturally? For me, it gets pushed down on the list, brushed aside for all of those things that seem more pressing. But rest is important. God "makes me lie down" in those green pastures for the purposes of restoring my soul. And that's something I want - how about you?"

"The Sabbath is my chance every week to turn around, to turn back, to think again of the way I want to live, the way I want my family to function, the way I want to walk closely with my God. The Sabbath is my chance to return to God, to the point where I strayed from the path, and to begin again."

Jesus says "Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest." -Matthew 11:28 msg