-by Nick Phillips
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy,” is what we read in Exodus 20:8 followed by the instruction to not do any work on the Sabbath day. The reality is this is really hard to do, and not just today. The world has always been busy, just a different kind of busy depending on what era you might be talking about. Can a farmer just take a day off? Not really, there are things that need to be done. Animals need to be fed. Gardens need to be planted and tended to. Crops needs to be harvested. Cows need to be milked. And so on…
Today we live in a demanding world which expects us to be “on call” 24/7, ready to respond to the needs of work or others when the need arises. In many homes, the “rest day” is often the day when household chores are done: lawns, laundry, cleaning. We do not seem to have time through the week to do these things in our busy lives. So they fall to our days off, our “rest” days.
What is sabbath? It is a time of rest. And in the Christian tradition Sabbath is considered to be a time to commit ourselves to God without the distractions of daily life. If God could take a day off after he created everything in the universe, then surely we can take one off once in a while too.
But does Sabbath mean nothing happens for a full twenty four hour period? Not exactly. Jesus made several distinctions about what it means to honour the Sabbath. He himself worked on the Sabbath, healing people being one thing he often did, which got him in trouble with the religious authorities. Sabbath can mean different things to different people. For Jesus, you could argue he had a time of Sabbath every morning when he went off by himself to pray and sit in the presence of God.
I just had a few weeks vacation. I time where I was “free” from the demands of the church (there is no “demand,” I love working for the church). What I was afforded in my vacation was a time where I could have a bit of a reset, and a little bit of rest, before jumping back into the fall season. It gave me time to pursue other activities which can be a welcome distraction from the regular routine.
To me, the last few weeks have been sabbath. A chance to rest. A change of pace. A quieter time. Even though I managed to keep myself busy, I feel ready to take on the months ahead with renewed energy, because a change in focus is often what I need in order to find my rest.
What do you need for your sabbath time? It could be very different than what I need, or even what others in your home need. Self-care is important. And I believe this is part of what is hoped for when God instituted the Sabbath. We are not machines designed to function at a high level twenty-four hours a day, every single day. We are designed to need regular rest.
The Bible says we are formed in the image of God. This is does not necessarily mean we look like God, but we are built to be like God. If God took time to rest, then we should too. It’s good for our bodies and souls to do so.
What does your sabbath look like? Where do you find time to rest, reenergize, and recover from the daily demands of life and work? God built us to find time of rest. Jesus sought alone time on a regular basis to do the same.
I know life has many demands. I know the adage, “If I don’t do it, no one will.” But we also need to consider our own self-care. Find your sabbath moments, build them into your routine. And you will find you have the energy and wherewithal to keep going when you need it.
Be blessed, my friends.