This is the first Sunday in I don't remember how long that I haven't spent most of the day working on something that needed doing right then. The book went to the printer (hopefully for the last time) on Thursday, the laundry got done, I got the cat food on Friday, and yesterday I mowed and mopped the floors, did the dishes and several other domestic duties that I'd put off because I had to get something done on Ginger's book. Not that I minded, really; it was fun for the most part but still a stressor that may or may not be completely finished, depending on whether the proof copy looks good. Anyway, there not being much to do in that direction I took today off from just about everything.
I got up today at the usual time of 5:30. My alarm goes off Monday - Friday at that hour but the fur-footers seem to think on any day of the week any time after about 4:30 am is borrowed time and they are going to starve to death if they can't get me rousted from the bed as early as possible. Today I refused to be cajoled, bullied, or forced into rising before i was ready (and the boys have some pretty definite ways of getting me out of bed). I got up anyway, fed them, got my first glass of iced tea, read my email and suddenly was so tired I was having trouble staying awake. I gave in. I went back to bed and slept until nearly 9.
I got up for about 3 hours and darned if I didn't feel the need of another nap, this time only a 2-hour one. I did get up and get enough energy to cook up a pot of squash (they were on sale this week, thank you, God!) with bacon and onions for my meal and read the online manual for the Kindle which hopefully will appear tomorrow. Other than that, I've done just about nothing.
I guess I was a lot more tired and stressed than I knew. Sure, I take a nap every possible day but there's been a lot of stress in my life lately and even with the naps there have been strings of nights when I haven't slept well, wakened early and didn't do more than lightly doze until the alarm clock went off -- or a cat had a hairball.
It brought to mind a discussion we had at our mentor's training session last weekend, namely how to actually observe a sabbath. Sure, most folks go to church on Sunday (some on Saturday night) and that is what they consider their Sabbath "duty". The rest of the day is spent in recreation -- picnics, playing in the pool with the kids, watching the Cubs lose yet again (Lord, how have they offended thee to cause so many losses over so many years?) or hoping the Redskins or anybody who plays Dallas wins. We also do the chores we didn't have time for on Saturday because Susie had to go to gymnastics or Bobby had soccer, if he didn't have to play on Sunday morning. By Monday we're still tired and not really ready to head back to the office for another week of work before repeating the process again and again.
Genesis tells us that on the seventh day God rested. I wonder what God did on that day since the Cubs, soccer, swimming pools, trips to visit Grandma and playing golf hadn't been invented yet? I'm sure it wasn't laundry, getting groceries, cleaning the bathroom, or even spending time answering emails and trying to figure out what needs to be done on Monday much less ordering the flowers to bloom, ensuring the lions were playing nicely with the lambs, the natural laws set in place were working and everything was being fruitful and multiplying like they were supposed to do.
Jesus told us that "the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath" (Mark 2:27). The synagogue officials we heard in the Gospel last week certainly didn't dig that; after all, no less than God Almighty had written it in stone that people were to "Remember the Sabbath day" (Genesis 20:8) and, by the Eternal, they were going to make sure people did, even the upstart teacher who presumed to heal a bent-over old woman ON THE SABBATH IN THE SYNAGOGUE ITSELF!!
Which brings my thoughts back to the discussion. It was easy to think of places were we "do" ministry of various types --- at church, with the scouts or civic groups, etc. We even do ministry at the office, the golf course, even at times in the grocery line (including the 15-item-or-less lane where someone is bound to have at least 22 items to check out). The one place we forget to observe the Sabbath is within ourselves. We forget that we are duty-bound to minister to ourselves if we are to be able to minister to others in whatever manner we are called to do so. We have to take time for ourselves, even if the world says that's horribly selfish of us.
Today has seemed like a pretty long day, truth be told. Still, I feel a bit more rested than usual, a little more ready to face the slog tomorrow -- and the day after, and the day after that, etc. In fact, I think I will turn off the tv, the computer and hopefully the cats and go to bed early. And I may try that a little more often in days to come. I've found that if I don't minister to me, it won't get done. I'm worth it and God sort of expects it.
Whether the Sabbath is Saturday, Sunday or even ten minutes in the middle of a busy Tuesday, the Sabbath was made for me, not me for it. So long as I thank God for giving me the day, the hour, the minutes to take a breather, recharge my batteries a bit, then I am obeying the 4th Commandment and doing what Jesus said.
Now off to observe some Sabbath time. Goodnight and God bless.
No comments:
Post a Comment