As I write this article I am recovering from a planned surgery. In the years and months prior to this time, I learned to discipline my life toward a healthy lifestyle. This care is characterized by consistent exercise, healthy eating, relationships and rest. I had no idea when I planned this surgery how much I would need this time of repose and rest. My doctor even commented on the fact that I came through the surgery better than most and suggested that it was largely due to the level physical and spiritual fitness she observed me to have.
A few years ago, I was like many of you. I would go and go like the energizer bunny and one week transitioned into another week without a break. It was hard to tell where one day began and another ended. I was like Harvard President Neil Rudenstine who reports having overslept one morning in the midst of a million-dollar-a-day fund raising campaign. His doctors agreed that he was exhausted from “years of intensive, non-stop toil and struggle, in an atmosphere that rewarded frantic busyness and overwork that was defined by never-finished tasks”.
At one time, I was also too exhausted to properly care for myself and my family, but through prayer and guidance I came to understand that I was in violation of the Sabbath law. I began to cry and repent and I made a commitment to seek out ways to practice and apply Sabbath principles to the way I would live life and do ministry. It’s been an interesting journey and I have discovered so many truths that enable me to live life to its fullest and enjoy the fruit of my labor without feelings of arduous dread.
One of my favorite reads is Wayne Muller’s book Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives. In it, Muller helps us understand this spiritual discipline as a way teaching the meaning of Sabbath and what it meant in the original sense. He offers insight and guidance as to how we in our fast paced society can recapture the essence of finding rest and learning practical applications for our lives.
Through this and other books, I have come to realize that Sabbath keeping is one of the missing elements in our American culture and the absence of this vital principle is eroding the fabric of our society that is plagued by this enemy called ‘busyness’.
Sabbath keeping is uncluttered time and space to distance myself from the frenzied activities of the week. It is simply removing my body from circulation one day a week to allow for the quieting of the external and internal noises that hinder me from paying attention to the still small voice from within. This uncluttered time and space also serves to detach me from the people around me so that they have a chance to rest and not look to me as their source of peace and direction which tends to lead to manipulation or some secret pride within me.
One of the primary benefits of Sabbath keeping is that it allows time for me to reflect. Reflection is a very enlightening experience as I enter into contemplative prayer and vigils. Reflection has the power to resolve the spiritual inertia inner confusion, and lack of confidence in who I am and frees me from the routines to which I cling to for my identity, and gives me the opportunity to offer these things back to God in praise and confession.
David Kundtz, in the book, “stopping”, defines “doing nothing” in relative terms. He says, sometimes it means “not doing too much, doing something that takes very little energy, or doing something that you love to do”. In other words it’s relative and it’s paradoxical because “doing nothing” can actually be beneficial. Kundtz further asserts, we can honor Sabbath and take stopping moments in one of three ways of finding rest: Stillpoints, Stopovers, or Grinding Halts.
A. Stillpoints: the “heart and soul of stopping”
These are intentional breaks or breathers in our day.
Examples:
1. Bathroom breather: one of the best places to go for a stillpoint.
2. A scheduled break
3. Walking from one task to another
4. Commuting: decompression time, loosen your tie, put on music, begin to focus your mind away from work and toward your home, family and the things you enjoy.
B. Stopovers: A weekend getaway
Kuntz purports that it is more likely that we will take a full day off every two months or so for a Stopover that we are to take an hour everyday for meditation. Both are good he says, but the question is which will you actually do?
Examples:
1. A structured weekend retreat
2. Create your own or personal retreat
3. A bus trip or train ride
4. An overnight stay
5. Just staying home
6. A spontaneous opportunity: This is when all of a sudden some space has been created in your day, an appointment is canceled, the kids are in school, or your spouse is out of town. An unplanned window of opportunity to rest.
7. A birthday gift to yourself – spa, lunch, dinner, something you have desired, a message to yourself, a card, buying fresh flowers, candles, etc.
8. A day off for rest and rejuvenation
C. Grinding Halts: the need for grinding halts indicates that something big is about to happen or change
They are often needed to avoid some undesired result.
Examples:
1. Personal and Spiritual Retreat (extended stay ie. 1-2 weeks)
2. Time alone in the mountains
3. Illness and death
4. Sabbatical
The relentless busyness of modern life has gravely impacted our souls. We are trying to be obedient to self-imposed expectations, religious cultures and societal stereotypes, demanding jobs, challenging family members and friends, tight schedules, questionable finances, and personal dreams and goals that have caused stress and anxiety to become the norm in our lives.
One way to return to a place peace and tranquility is to honor the rhythm between work and rest that is sure to refresh our souls. Sabbath is not a day off, it’s a time when we cease our daily labor and other things to allow room for love, friendship, prayer, touch, singing and rest to be born in us, as we have created a time and space in our lives to be renewed.
Resources:
Wayne Muller. Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives. (New York:New York, Bantum Books, 2000), 3-4.
David Kundtz. Stopping: How to Be Still When You Have to Keep Going. (Berkley, CA: Conari Press, 1998), 48.
Ibid, 53-55.
Ibid, 57-72.
Ibid, 73-96.
Ibid, 97-120.
