sacred sabbath & rest for the weary
Have you ever been so tired that you hope you catch a cold? Or acquire a fever?
That you think the only way you’ll get a break is to have a breakdown?
You have weekend plans or evening plans and the other person cancels and you quietly and secretly rejoice because you are in dire need of a night off?
Do you have days when you want to quit your life and let someone else raise the kids, handle the sass, repair the dishwasher, do the laundry, pump the gas, help with the homework?
I mean, I’m pretty certain if you are breathing, you can probably answer yes to all of these.
If you’re a mom, you for sure know what it feels like to dream of strep throat because it might mean you can lie down and be quiet. (You might even get a popsicle!)
You entertain thoughts that prison sounds alright – meals prepped, nothing to do except mind your own business. Time slotted for exercise. Forced cleanliness.
And while this particular week and this particular day, for me, may not be my breaking point currently, I know I’ve felt all of the above at one time or one day.
We need rest.
For our bodies and our hearts and our souls.
We are living and breathing an exhausted life.
And we cannot – and should not – wait until we’re too far gone, mostly broken, at wit’s end, desperate, anxious to toss it all in the trash.
We need a rhythm and a reason to rest. A pattern and a habit.
A place for peace.
This is an idea my heart has been drawn to for years. A hunger I can taste.
We’re all so tired.
Bone deep. Soul heavy. Tired.
We sit still for a minute and we fall asleep. Reading books makes us close our eyes and drift off.
Do we remember that the entire world was created to operate under a system?
An order of first work, then rest. A routine of on again and off again. A reset.
It’s programmed into our genetic code.
You operate at full capacity and then you sleep. Daily rest.
You work for six days and then you rest. Sundays. Weekly rest.
You work most of the year and then you gather those you love and take a break. A vacation. Annual rest.
It can be hard to rest. To shut it down. To give ourselves permission to say, “Not now” to whatever it is that is knocking on our door.
But the space rest gives to refill, to refuel, to gear back up for the next right thing, is critical. Vital. Life giving.
Our family generally attends our church’s evening service. This allows us to create a rhythm of a slow and easy going Sunday morning.
Sleeping late is encouraged. Quiet activity all morning is the norm.
On Sundays at our house we turn off the screens. No TV. No computer. No video games. Cell phone use primarily limited to emergency calls.
Together we prepare a big brunch. While we’re eating together we talk about the week ahead. Schedules. The weather that week. What day soccer practice is happening. If there’s any event or activity coming that week. Any family business or concerns that need to be addressed. These weekly brunches have come to be known as our Sunday Morning Meetings.
When our schedule is thrown off, for whatever reason – a trip, an unavoidable event – we tangibly miss this ritual.
It’s become a piece of the ebb and the flow of our family life and structure.
A sacred Sabbath that binds us and fills us up and places us on equal footing, week after week. A Sabbath that defines our family culture.
A piece of rest. What I long for it to be is preventative medicine, to curb the potential breakdown in all of us.
What does a Sabbath day mean to you and your family?
What healthy rhythms have you put in place that work for you and your people?
What keeps the longing-for-a-sickness days at bay in your house?
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