I Flunked Sabbath

I flunked Sabbath this week.  Oh sure there are a million good excuses, but the bottom line is, I cooked (poorly I might add), I totally redid my bedroom, I swapped my winter wardrobe out for my summer wardrobe (and am now freezing to death by the by!) and I watched television to relax.

I did absolutely nothing edifying, nothing restful, nothing healthy...SIGH

I don't even understand why there is an "F" in the grading system frankly.  Why do we have A-B-C-D and then F!  Would an "E" not have been bad enough hanging there just below a "D"?  Must our world insist that when we fail at something it is so heinous that we have to go two letters beneath the last below average grade? Is it because Fail and Flunk both start with F so someone assumed that if you aren't bright enough to at least achieve a D- they better make it an "F" for Fail so the dimwitted realize they Flunked and their Future is Futile!?!

Oh sure some people say, we'll give you an "E" for effort, but those are usually grandmas and really nice people, who aren't in charge of grading you at all!  There's no "E" for effort.  THERE"S NO "E" FOR EFFORT!  (Read this like Tom Hanks in "League of  Their Own" please!..."there's no crying in baseball!")

This weekend we heard the story of Jesus forgiving Peter.  Peter who had just betrayed him 3 times.  In Luke it says after the third betrayal, Jesus turned and looked right at him.  Ouch...Oh Peter your heart must have broken and you must have felt like such a failure.  Then the Gospel of John gives us this resurrection story where Jesus pulls Peter aside to speak with him.  Can you imagine the shame and trepidation he must have been feeling?  But Jesus gives him 3 chances to answer yes, to the question, "Do you love me?"  One for each of the betrayals.

Jesus came  to turn all of our big fat "Fs" around.  No longer are we burdened with wearing the yoke of "FAILURE, but the joy of FORGIVENESS"  I still flunked Sabbath, but it is a gift that I can reclaim this week, and besides, Jesus has made it so "failure" is just a bump in the road, not a place I have to live!

Sabbath Gift

What happens if you don't rest as part of a workout program? 

1. Decreased performance. 2. Disinterest in exercise. 3. Mood changes. 4. Delayed recovery time.5. Elevated resting heart rate. 6. Fatigue. 7. Insomnia 8. Diminished appetite.  9. Fat gain. 10. Weakened immune system. 

What happens if you don't take a break from computer use?  

1.  Eye Strain or clinical dry eye can develop. 2. Neck and shoulder fatigue and injuries can occur. 3.  Weight gain is more likely. 4. The chance of depression triples.  5. Anxiety with life situations is increased. 6. Friendships and relationships suffer. 7. Back and hip pain increases. 8. Ulcers and digestive issues increase. 9. Insomnia. Weakened Immune system

What happens if you drive too long without taking a break?  

1.  Eye strain. 2. Accident and injury potential. 3. Shoulder neck and back injury. 4.  Mental fatigue and confusion

Are you seeing a pattern here? 

 I remember when I was little and was suppose to take a nap.  I HATED naps.  As an extravert my FOMO (fear of missing out) was already alive and well.  I can remember my grandma saying, "Oh I wish I could take a nap, you don't know how lucky you are!"  Well "lucky" is in the eye of the beholder sometimes.  I didn't feel lucky I felt like I wanted to be up!

As God assured Jeramiah, My plans for you are to prosper not to do harm,  grown ups give chikdren the gift of napping, because their little bodies need to recover, and as any parent can tell you, to make life easier for everyone involved. 

Our bodies cry out for rest

Our minds cry out for rest

Our spirits cry out for rest

The Lord of Sabbath has given us the answer.  Never forget Sabbath is a gift for our benefit!  Why wouldn't we do it?

I rise in anticipation of greeting you God, and I walk with your presence in mind, but the day races relentlessly towards me, and the time gets harder to find. The relationship I seek and long for, seems to traitorously slip away, while duties, obligations and labor, begin to fill up my day.

So noontime I think, will be time to pause, to commune with the Savior I love, and then lunch comes, and it goes, and I still haven't paused to worship the Almighty above. As evening approaches and the sun sets in the sky, and the quiet of night settles in, I think the end of the day will open the way to let my prayer time begin.

Then my head hits the pillow in exhaustion once more, I feel drained yet fitfully sleep, both body and soul deficient somehow because of the meeting I failed to keep.

You have given us a gift of Sabbath Rest, a gift I repeatedly choose to ignore. Yet when I seek your face, and dwell in you my life is so much more. You offer us time and grace and love, a respite from life's demanding drive.  So let me absorb the refreshment of Sabbath, so I may truly thrive.

Communing With the Creator

I want to surround my Sabbath with reminders of why I am keeping the Sabbath!  Music, exercise, art and peace.

“Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” St. Francis of Assisi, author of this saying, was a master at proclaiming the gospel in creative ways. The creator of the living nativity, St. Francis made the good news of the birth of Jesus accessible to the people of his time through the use of worship visuals.

Andy Otto says, "Art has long been a way the Church has tapped into the divine.  art can unlock the secret depths of the heart. Though a painting stimulates the visual sense, there’s something about a painting that somehow touches the more interior parts of us too. "

Bob Gilroy has a wonderful site called, Prayer Windows.  There are steps on how to 

begin to pray with art.  
By adding something creative into Sabbath it seems like we commune with God THE Creator just a little bit.

In the Garden                                                                                            A view from above

 

Images of Sabbath

Here are two beautiful images from Yoram Raanan/ of his vision of Sabbath.  Check out the link above to his wonderful site. I love looking at these and I feel inspired to add rest into my week, as well as art into my rest.  This Lent I am so happy to be a "Lenten Mentor" to one of our confimands at church.  We will be experimenting with adding art into our Lenten practice as well.  If you see an especially inspirational piece of art please share!  I would love to hear and see what is moving you towards Sabbath!

So... I Suppose I Should Break This Sabbath Thing To My Family

Yes, it's true!  I'm experimenting with a "Super-Secret" Sabbath.  It's not so much that I want it to be a secret, I mean I do presentations on Sabbath, and a weekly blog, and  am trying to live a faithful Sabbath filled life.  But I haven't really clued the gang in on what's going on.

I can't decide if it's because I am afraid we, as a family, are more likely to sabotage the day collectively if everyone is in on it, or if there will be eye rolling (them) which will lead to seething (me) which will lead to a begrudging compliance (everyone) which will just wreck it!

It's not like I don't trust them to hold the day in the esteem with which it deserves, (I totally don't trust them) but it's like a diet; the more people you tell, the more people seem to offer you chocolate cake!

Mostly I think I'm worried about being the gate keeper.  I don't want to be the one making "rules" which seem rigid, and agonizing and burdensome. (Where's a good Pharisee when you need one?)  I want Sabbath to be  organic and a natural end to a busy week.   I want Sabbath to be lovely, and meaningful, and restful! So far that is what we have achieved, and frankly I'm a little tentative about messing with a good thing.

I am willing to go the extra mile with cooking and cleaning and organizing early on in the week so our Sabbath can be restful.  Talking and explaining and discussing and disputing would put me over the edge and ruin it.  My goal is for them to come to me one day and say, "Oh mother dear, our life is so peaceful and amazing, what is it that makes it so? (I am hearing this being said in an old English accent much like Oliver Twist asking for more gruel, even though we are not British, nor are we particularly Dickensian!) You can probably wager on how soon that is going to happen!

So, in the mean time, if you run into one of my children or my husband, and ask, "How's Sabbath going?" don't be surprised if the answer is a bunch of blinking and "ummming."   Because I think I'll put it off for just one more week.

I'm Sooooooooooooooo So Tired

Jennifer Lawrence, who is always a good time, was on David Letterman a while back.  She is a young lady that everyone seems to like and truly amuses Mr. Letterman.  She was working on one of the Hunger Games movies, and American Hustle.  Doing promo tours and parties, and premieres etc.  I know rough life right!

But in the charming way that she has, she just kept saying, "I'm so tired!  Soooooo, so tired!"  As I was watching I thought, "Oh honey, you can't say that!"  People don't want tired, they want perky, and peppy, and funny, and grateful. You have a dream job and people don't want to hear how tired you are.

She was able to pull it off with out any repercussions.  I think because it is not her normal state of being, and she was able to touch on something we are all feeling.  It made me think about how we as a society are under a lot of pressure to NOT be tired.  It isn't the American way.  It isn't acceptable, and yet studies show we are all really, really tired.  See the links below

• Insufficient Sleep is a Public Health Epidemic
• The Toll Of Sleep Loss In America
• Sleep Deprivation affects a Third of Americans
• More Sleep Would Make Most Americans Happier

So why don't we go to bed?  And when we are in bed, why don't we sleep better.  There are lots of sites with suggestions on how to sleep better (that could be my next blog....my big fat sleep experiment!)

There's a controversial Cadillac commercial that's out right now.  One of the parts that bothers me is this man's seeming disdain for taking extended time off.   We have begun to refer to it as the "anti-Sabbath" commercial.

So my goal is to be eloquent and give some useful tips on this blog, but today I just wanted to bring you with me as I notice what we're doing to ourselves.  I see that we are not only ignoring Sabbath, but glorifying that ignorance.  

Try to carve out some Sabbath time this week.  Take a day, and declare it a day of rest.  I promise you will do better work, than if you ignore this gift of Sabbath which we have been given!