I Love It When a Plan Comes Together: Keeping the Sabbath

Before our whole relocating process started, my husband and I had been keeping Sabbath for several months.

Since there is no Sunday shopping here,anyway, that wasn't an issue, so we were doing a technology Sabbath. No computer, cell-phone etc. No housework or house "projects". I also tried to have something cooked ahead of time, so meal prep wouldn't be complicated. Sundays were really and truly days of rest, quiet and renewal.

It was *incredible* how wonderful it was! I can hardly wait until our move is finished so we can get back to it. It made such a difference in our lives and mental states.

expat expressing interest in The Power of Pause

It really is interesting to see how events converge to give you a new understanding.

You'd think that with both kids in college, Tom and I would have oodles of free time. Alas, not so. With the challenges of owning a small business (as a fellow business owner told us when we began, you only have to work half a day and you get to pick which twelve hours), our volunteer activities/ministries, and hobbies which have somehow turned into communities that we don't want to let down (such as my podcast), our plates are very full. Originally we looked at our free-er evenings and weekends as time to get that eternal "To Do" list taken care of. After several stress-filled weekends of feeling as if we had no weekend at all, we came to the conclusion which wiser minds than ours already knew ... there is no end to the "To Do" list. Ever.

Gradually we began backing away from commitments as much. Quite a bit of this has consisted of saying "No" to new requests. This takes a surprising amount of steeling oneself to letting others down.

Also, as I have detailed recently, we began enjoying a weekend cocktail hour which quickly became a welcome break in the need to cross items off of our lists.

In writing a series for our parish Sunday bulletin about the ten commandments, I was surprised at the force of feeling I had in the need to follow the third commandment to keep the Sabbath holy. You know us converts. We get pushy.

I began reading The Power of Pause which simply reinforced all those previous events and made them jell into the desire to "keep the Sabbath" as a day of rest.

Tom instantly agreed when I ventured to bring up this idea. That meant a commitment to honing our lists so we could get things done on Saturday. No easy task.

Last weekend was our first Sunday of resting. We didn't have the "no technology" concept as a condition, as expat does, but I already was working toward staying away from the computer on Sundays anyway. Tom delved a bit into reading his favorite sites, but not much. I set aside the iPod for the most part.

It was glorious, people.

Glorious.

We felt as if we were on vacation.

What did we do?

We got up earlier than usual for a Sunday and took the dogs to the dog park. That was an hour of watching God's creation in the dogs and in the nature of White Rock Lake where the park is located. (Note: this is not how Tom would probably think of it.) There was one moment when I was standing in the sunlight by myself, glanced up, and was overcome with wonder at the site of dozens and dozens of dragonflies zipping around overhead. Just in that spot. Amazing.

Later that morning we went to Mass. I don't remember just what sparked it but something was said that suddenly brought a vivid image of those dragonflies to mind. I had to smile. A little nudge, perhaps, that God was present then and now to me, using all things to help pull back that veil between us? That's how it hit me.

The rest of the day, I read for pleasure ... three Emma Lathen mysteries (more about her later, also I was rereading which we know always goes quickly) .... and dipping into a few of those theological review books I'd received (for me, this also is pleasure reading. I know. Go figure). We worked on a crossword puzzle together. And suchlike.

We can't wait for this Sunday. In fact, we already started rearranging our weekend schedule so nothing would interfere with it.

It made me clearly understand expat's comment about not cooking as we had leftovers. I was just too much in "rest" mode.

The other pact that Tom and I made was that if Monday morning at work fell apart, we would not waste time castigating ourselves for taking a day off and beginning the week "behind." We would keep firmly in mind that rest is a good and necessary thing and not regret it. And so we did.

Now, I realize that I am going to be going into crazy-time at work in a few weeks because of an annual, time-intensive project. We will possibly have to reduce keeping the Sabbath to a couple of hours. But we will still not give up that rest, that opportunity for God to touch us further using methods we don't expect. This is probably the method we would have used if we had been devoted to this process when the kids were little. Family games or outings would have been the order of the day ... or some such thing. I haven't thought this aspect through much and I am sure others have very good ideas about it.

At any rate, I highly recommend that we give ourselves the break that God commands. He only has our good in mind, after all.

Notes
I can post those inserts on the ten commandments, if anyone is interested. Keeping in mind, that I'm only up to number four, so it would be occasional. What say you? Yea or nay?

I will be reviewing The Power of Pause, don't worry.