We want to observe the Sabbath more often now. From Friday evening to Saturday evening. No work, no internet. With good food, reading, playing games, going for walks, sleeping, listening to music, writing in our diaries, maybe meeting friends or watching a good movie. No laptop or cell phone (except for phone calls with family or friends). No shopping. No cleaning. Just rest and recharge. Skiing and sledding or roaming around in the woods. Painting a picture again. Playing the guitar. That's how I would define the Sabbath for myself. Very personally.
Last week the Sabbath was really good for us! And we didn't get bored. It was almost a shame to turn the internet back on and prepare for the next day. I was already looking forward to next Friday. And now here it is! We still have some things to get done, but tonight is Sabbath again, yeah! This time even in a different place, because we're swapping apartments with our daughter. The kids have guests from the Netherlands visiting and our apartment is bigger. Now we even have a Valentine's weekend in the small, cozy apartment to ourselves. But Sabbath can be anywhere. You can also adapt the rules yourself. We are not under the law. But it is a spiritual discipline that is good for us. A rest, a chance to recharge our batteries, a pause. A day without work. A day that is fun. I generally tend to move too fast. A really slow day without stress is healing for me. Letting go without feeling guilty and immersing myself in a book.
John Mark Comer's book on “The End of Restlessness,” which I read for the second time, this time in German and together with my husband, was very helpful. Slowness reduces stress and anxiety and promotes love. That would be the shortest summary of the book. Really focused. Of course, there's much more to it than that. Also from Comer: All healing is the removal of fear. A person without fear is a person of love.
Behind lovelessness there is always fear: fear of missing out, fear of losing something, fear of losing, fear of looking bad... Love has no fear. Love rests in God. It is exciting to explore the connections between love, fear, and peace. And what you can learn when you try to do more like Jesus: to retreat again and again to prayer. And then, strengthened, to serve people. Loneliness, service, deep friendships, contemplation. A holistic life. No matter what stage of life you are in.
I would do some things differently if I had small children again. I would take turns with my husband more so that each of us could have a few hours or sometimes even a whole day to ourselves. The years with small children in the house were very busy. I definitely didn't get enough rest. I didn't take enough time to relax. But you learn from experience. And often it's the simple things that do us good. Things that have been known for a long time. Like rest and the Sabbath.
Let's see how things develop. I have a feeling my husband needs it even more than I do. But I enjoy it too. And it's good to introduce a ritual with a framework. A framework, like for the vine in John 15, so that the branches can cling to it and fruit can grow. Fruit that comes from rest, not from doing.
After the Sabbath, we start Sunday feeling rested, which for us usually consists of serving and fellowship. The evening before Sunday, we can make final preparations for the church service. Even though hopefully everything will already be ready on Friday. Let's see if that works out.
In any case, I'm really looking forward to our day off. And to a man without a laptop.
"If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don´t use my holy day for personal advantage,
If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy,
God´s holy day as a celebration,
If you honor it by refusing "business as usual", making money, running here and there -
Then you´ll be free to enjoy God!
Oh, I´ll make you ride high and soar above it all.
I´ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancester Jacob."
Yes! God says so!
Isaiah 58:13 (MSG)