Time to Celebrate

A few weeks ago, I heard something about the Sabbath. Isn’t that profound? I cannot remember what it was, but I distinctly remember thinking, “next time I’m up for the FYI, I’m going to write about that.” So, here we are.

At that time, I believe I was thinking about how desperate we all are for true Sabbath right now and how difficult it is to truly participate in one. With so many of us working from home, boundaries have gotten blurred more than ever. Our co-workers know we see their text messages. They know we are just at home, because where else would we be? Even though our favorite restaurants are not open, our trips are getting canceled, work conferences are delayed, we are all still busy. It’s become apparent more than ever that the Sabbath won’t just happen for us. It requires not only our attention but also our intention. See below. It’s pretty self-explanatory.

Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. (Exodus 20:8-10)

Coincidentally, BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) is going through Genesis this year, and this past week the focus was on God’s rhythm of creation. It struck me how the symbiotic relationships God created were so purposeful, so thought out. (For example, I recently studied the relationship between coyotes and badgers. Look it up, it’s fascinating.)

Along with the changing of years, seasons, and months, God gave us the changing of days. And He set one day specifically aside so that we can rest. Because we need it. Six days of work. One day of rest so that we focus on Him and remember why we glorify Him in our work. Which then brings Him more glory. Which spurs us on to take a Sabbath and pay special attention to Him. A symbiotic relationship even between the days of our week. What a tremendous gift!

And oh how we have left it abandoned! Like leaving the largest, most beautifully wrapped gift under the tree on Christmas morning. We know that gift is a necessity. But we feel like if we just work hard enough, check one more thing off the list, fold one more load of laundry, then and only then do we deserve a Sabbath.

But here’s the thing. We will never deserve the Sabbath. The work is never done, and it’s never perfect, and it never will be. Yikes. When we think about the Sabbath as something to earn, I fear—and I’ll speak for myself here—that I am completely missing the point. That makes the Sabbath about me.

What I know as a believer, is that the Sabbath is about God. In my BSF notes this week it says that on the Sabbath, “God celebrated the completed goodness of His work.” HIS work. Not OURS. We are not celebrating our good work. We are celebrating that our work will never be good enough, but praise be to God that His work is not only good and holy, it is also complete. That is what we rest in.

Mark had a meeting tonight, so I was a little stressed this evening thinking about loading the dishwasher and putting all the boys to bed and folding two loads of laundry and prepping for homeschool tomorrow and finishing my BSF work and making sure I have all the information I need for an IEP meeting for work on Friday, and oh my house is a mess, and we need a new container for all those marble run pieces because ours broke today and so they are now everywhere… But I think I’m just going to just stop. It is time to celebrate.