Sunday, December 21, 2008

What a Difference a Day Makes...

Wow! Re-learned a lesson yesterday!

This time of the year is so BUSY! So FULL! So HARRIED! We have been going full tilt for several weeks now and the condition of the house showed it! It was starting to drive me crazy! So, in spite the fact that yesterday was the first day of deer muzzleloader season, I committed myself to staying home and jumping in to the mess! Sharon and I spent the day together ticking things off our list (getting ready for Christmas) and cleaning, straightening the house. And wow! what a difference it made to the condition of things...and thus made to my spirits every time I walk through our dining room, kitchen, and family room! (that is until this morning when I walked through the family room at 5:30 and the girls were the last ones to bed last night... but that's a different story!)

It got me thinking... about Sabbath. You will remember that one of the ten commandments God established was to "Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. 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..." (Deuteronomy 5:12) One of the things that happens when we observe sabbath, is we re-orient our lives... shifting the focus from the busyness and harriedness to God! Just as the re-ordered house lifts my spirits... a day of rest and worship renews our spirits as well! Observing Sabbath is a healthy way to ground our lives... to reconnect with God, to refuel and ready ourselves for whatever is ahead. It's not so much a law as it is a reality, a necessity in our lives! When we have sabbath in our lives... so much seems right and good and the fullness of the Lord can be our strength!

1 comment:

cathy b. said...

Have you ever read/heard anything by Richard Swenson? A talk by him changed my views on sabbath permanently.