Sabbath Rest

“How’s it going?”

“Oh good, we’re just so busy.” “We’re in a busy season.” “Life just keeps rolling along all too quickly.”

Familiar conversation? It seems no matter who you ask, you get a response about how busy someone is. It may sound a little different but it seems there’s a common theme.

Why are we all so busy? What are we filling our time with? And is it worthwhile?

I think all too often we fill our time with work, activities, errands, and entertainment because it’s what everyone else is doing. Keep up with the Jones’, right? Our kid’s friends are doing gymnastics, we better put our kids in. The neighbor just got a new car, we’d better put in more hours and get one too. Our friends just moved to the country, we’d better start looking for property too.

We may not put it into words, or even conscious thought, but we’re comparing all too often. Comparison steals our contentment and joy every time and yet we do it. And it’s frequently a bad habit we don’t even realize.

Also, we make ourselves busy because it makes us feel important. We believe we have to be doing something in order to be worth something. If I fill my schedule and try to keep all the plates spinning and show success in all these areas, then I’m worthy. Then when someone asks “What’s new?” I have a list to share.

At the end of the day, at the end of the week, at the end of a year, do we really feel successful, fulfilled, satisfied with all our busyness, running, and frantic pacing? Or is it more likely that we feel defeated because we didn’t quite achieve enough, discouraged because someone else did it better, and exhausted because we aren’t actually supposed to do, but be?

Did you just take a deep inhale right there? Can you relate?

I know I can.

I’ve been convicted about Sabbath for a long time now. Like, a really long time. We’ve clumsily attempted taking a Sabbath here and there only to have it overshadowed by the to-do list.

Recently I’ve been reading Holy Hygge by Jamie Erickson. If you haven’t, I highly recommend you get yourself a copy of this book and take your time with each chapter. In her chapter Rest, she says, “Sabbath rest is a tithe of time…” and “…rest is not a suggestion. It is a command.”

Those hit me hard. I have seen God multiply our finances innumerable times over the years, so much so that I couldn’t even begin to add up the amount He’s blessed us with, simply because we’ve been obedient. We’ve learned to tithe our finances no matter how tight the month appears because God always, and I mean Always, multiplies it and covers our needs and, often, covers our desires as well.

If I know that truth in my very depths, why would I assume He would do any differently when I tithe my time? I’ve learned there are amazing blessings in obedience so why should it be difficult to be obedient with giving my time to Him?

Maybe because I’m a slow learner, just like the Israelites as they wandered the desert. How many times did they have to relearn the lesson that God can be trusted? How many times must I learn that lesson?

I got to this point and thought, okay God, I’ll try to trust you with my time. But how do I actually make this work? How do I actually set aside time that looks different? It’s supposed to be holy, set apart. What does that look like?

It’s obviously going to look different in every family, but for me a few things really helped me bring this down to the practical.

First, get everyone on board. The whole family has to understand the Sabbath and be willing to rest and make it look different. In our home, we sat down and actually created a Sabbath list. I asked the kids, “if you could do anything you wanted on a family day, what would it be?”

The list is great! There are fun farm projects, hiking and day trips, playing board games, going out for ice cream. My kids were so astute to even add worship God with music, read His Word, and pray. I’m sure it will change and be added to as we go, but I’m excited we can actually start to do those family things we always talk about doing.

Second, prepare for the Sabbath during the week. A couple close friends and I were talking about how to do this and we came up with a few things. Get the house chores, errands, grocery shopping, and other projects done on other days during the week. This might sound obvious, but it really requires a mind shift. If I need to get the laundry and other house chores done on other days, then those days need to be open enough to allow for that. Which means I need to say no to extras so I’m actually home to do those things. Which means I need to look at my calendar and see the open spaces as opportunities to prepare for the Sabbath, not as spots to be filled.

We also have to trust. We can’t take one the mindset that I just have to work harder and faster and get more done on those other days so I can rest. I need to trust that God will multiply my time just as He multiplies my finances. I can’t look at my to-do list and think, well great, now I’ll really never get this all done. I need to look at that list and say, God, I trust you to get done what needs to get done, and to remove from the list what isn’t important right now.

Third, I believe we need to go into Sabbath willingly and cheerfully. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” 2 Corinthians 9:7.

God wants us to want to give, so that He in turn can show us how much He can give. He loves and desires to bless us, I’ve seen this from experience. We can actually trust Him.

“Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.”

2 Corinthians 9:7

We aren’t perfect at this, in fact, I’d say we’re newbies, just trying to figure it out. We’ll probably stumble and be clumsy along the way. But, prayerfully and hopefully, with God’s help, we’ll start to honor Him with our time.