Sabbath

but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. (Exodus 20:10)

I’m reading a book about Sabbath resting. Even before I knew the book existed, I had decided not to weed on Sundays because Sunday morning was church, and the idea of trying to play catch up on the weeding and then my other Sunday activities would cause too much stress. I could either weed or go to Church – not both, not in one day. In addition, my muscles have made it abundantly clear that they need the rest.

But rest is one of those basics that we shove aside. We think we rest when we collapse, exhausted, into bed at the end of the day. We might pick a day in which we’re going to be “lazy.” Resting for some seems to be marathoning a TV or movie series. For others, it’s legalism. You can’t watch TV, can’t go shopping, can’t mow the lawn, can’t … can’t … can’t.

In fact, if you decide you want to follow the Mosaic Law, you can’t turn on the lights or light a fire of any sort. It’s not enough that you aren’t working.  You’re not to require your family, your servants, your animals, or foreign servants who live in your town to work. This means no going out to lunch after church. So we go home and take a nap, but spend the rest of the time fuming because God won’t let us do anything.

The author of the book I’m talking about doesn’t suggest that we follow that legalistic approach. There’s no legalism involved. She’s a soccer mom, which would interfere with the legalistic Sabbath concept. Her approach is more “do what you can, and if you can remove it from Sunday, do.”

One of the comments she made that has stuck with me is that God created the universe in six days and rested, or stopped creating, on the seventh. So one goal we might set is to rest from creating on the Sabbath. Stop trying to create wealth. Stop trying to create a reputation. Stop doing business. Disconnect from the world and its demands.

The other thing she’s talked about quite a bit is spending time with family. Play games. Read aloud. Watch a movie. Build a puzzle. Do something that reconnects you with the people in your life. Fulfill the greatest commandment, to love God and your neighbor  (which includes your family members.) In other words, while the Sabbath is a time to disconnect with the world and its demands, and to disconnect from the stuff and business of our lives, it’s a time to reconnect.

The first reconnection is with God. After six days of doing this, that, and the other just to get by, to remember, “Oh yeah, God…” We also get to reconnect with family, friends, and with ourselves. There will be decisions to make about how to accomplish that reconnecting. It might require a nap on Sunday afternoon, or time spend reading the Bible, or taking a walk through a park with (or in my case without) a camera. It might take being aware of the “musts” in our lives.

Last night after I crawled into bed (given its height, I do crawl) one of the thoughts was that on the Sabbath, I should refrain from Quora and debating. I’m writing this on Sunday morning, and honesty requires that I tell you that I’ve already failed. But another line can be drawn in the sand. I can try again. It’s probably not helpful to shift from “Must!” to “Must Not!” Instead, I need to shift from “Must” to “Don’t have to.” Learning to rest on the Sabbath isn’t going to happen in ten seconds or one day.