Well, I had the day off from work today so I thought I would try to do a 'trial' Sabbath day - to try myself out and see if I could actually focus my energy on resting (I know that sounds weird, doesn't it??)
So, at the end of the day here is how I would rate myself. On a scale of 1 to 10 with 1 being super-busy with no time to stop and breathe and with 10 being extremely restful, I would give myself a
4
Yup, I know. That's not alot. And perhaps I am being too hard on myself. I do tend to do that. But I don't think that I'm doing it here. As a rule, my life is chronically over-booked and if you read THIS you will see that I'm not good at stopping. I just don't know how very well.
That's what this series on Sabbathing is about - learning to slow down so that I will have time for proper Worship and so that I will be rested and restored from the business of my life. So, here is my honest estimation of how my day went.
Today was the State Track Meet so perhaps this wasn't a good choice for a day of resting. (Honestly I didn't intend to rest the whole day, anyway. I know myself. I will have to build up to that!) I was going to spend the morning and part of the afternoon doing things that make me feel rested but what ended up happening was grouchiness and some bitterness in my heart. I am working on some posts behind-the-scenes that are about handling being bitter and so I am not surprised that this came up. Of course the devil wants to throw that in my face and make me feel insecure about writing about it. Or perhaps it was God, using my quiet time to purge me of some things that I keep stuffing and avoiding dealing with. Either way, since I was determined to have a good day today, no matter what the source of it was, it had to be dealt with.
So, during the time I had allotted for restful activities - and those were not planned -- I had to spend it feeling upset and bitter about things and then giving them over to God. So, now that I have written this down and have taken a step back to look at it, I guess the time was not a waste. I am not feeling terribly rested right now, but hopefully I have let go of some things that could have built up into a real mess! I am so thankful that God allows me the room for a *do-over*! I will just try again another day!
What about you? When your life is super busy, what do you do to feel rested?
Today I realized that whatever I'm doing at the present time (is to enjoy it) so I don't lose the moment of Joy that goes along with what I'm doing. If I start to think ahead of all that I need or want to do then stress comes into my life. I hope this makes sense. My time to worship must have the joy of the moment to be complete.
ReplyDeleteGreat reminder Grandma! I think society wants to train us to do more and more and to always be thinking about the next thing - but that's not how Jesus lived. I am trying to slow down to notice the Joy in the moment too.
ReplyDeleteWOW! I don't know if I could do this Shannon. It sounds like a real eye opener especially after the BBQ and backpack giveaway, and seeing my mom out and actually having a good time and not in pain when she got home.
ReplyDeleteI say this all the time, that it is biblical to have a day of rest and we, me included, are sinning when we disobey this!
ReplyDeleteI think your posts will be better for your day of fighting bitterness, we can't honestly help other's in a battle unless we have conquered that battle ourselves. And conquering doesn't necessarily mean we never fight it anymore, it means we do "FIGHT" but don't let it control us. You got the victory over it and didn't let it consume you, THAT is your testimony and what will help others! And the devil can't rob that from you unless you hand it over to him, which I know you won't! :)
~Love you
Sarah
Thank you Sarah!
ReplyDeleteAnd, Steph, you could Sabbath! Just start small and build up but the important thing is to start to slow down!
God Bless ~ Shannon