Like most Tuesdays, today is my day-off. I love days off. It is not the time away from work that I particularly love...although I do enjoy that as well. What I love about days off is the rhythm it creates in my life. If you have spent just 5 minutes with me, you quickly realize that I was not gifted with rhythm of any kind. Oh, I wish I had the internal sense of beat so that I could learn a musical instrument, or ballroom dance, or just clap in synch with others; but if this is my curse in life, so be it.
But I digress. Days off do provide a change of pace for me. As a Christ Follower, during these past couple years especially, I have begun to take days off seriously. Taking a day off in our modern era could be considered as the New Sabbath. The original Sabbath was/is Saturdays; but Saturdays for the most part have been detached from the purposes of the Sabbath. Modern Christians tend to treat Sundays as the Substitute Sabbath; but with the many ways we have "organized" our methods of worship, Sundays sometimes do not fully achieve what the Sabbath is to be all about. I can't speak for your life; but I find this to be true in my life at times.
This is why I am beginning to treat my days off as my Sabbath day. This has turned out to be not as easy I thought it would be. Although, I love and am getting quite good at sleeping in and lounging around the house, there is always a nagging voice inside my head that scolds me for not doing anything "productive". It is a constant battle for me to purposely DO nothing in order to just BE for a period of time. For me, the major themes for the Sabbath is to:
rest...rest in God's care
remember...remember the great things God has done
renew...renew my spirit through recreation (usually involving books, music, food, & friends)
review...review what God has taught me
realign...realign my will to God's will
revel...revel in God's amazing character
Never before have I put these thoughts to words...so I think my homiletics professor would be proud of my word-smithing. Dancing clumsily in the rhythm of life...
Reflections & Ramblings that I pick up along this journey through life. www.drneilclayton.com
2 comments:
I've been taking, a few days off too. I'm not use to it, but have found it to be a useful tool at becoming more in tune with the world around me. There is alot of pain in my body to deal with, (becasue of the surgery) but this time around........I seem to be tuned into those around me at are in pain. There seems to be a hurting world all around us, that we are not tuned into, because we are too tuned into the "Rhythm of our lives..." When God slows us down, we can sense and feel that there are hurting people out there that pass us by everyday. I can't fix it all.....only learn to listen better.
Alice D.
You are quite the poet. But I have to say, knowing you as I do, I never thought sleeping in was a problem for you - recall your time at Hedgewood? I couldn't get you off the floor. Oh right, you were "sick". Yeah, right! Your writing is wonderful my friend. I also am taking days off more seriously. funny huh? Yesterday, Marcy, and two others were at my home for a Ladies Spa Day. We did faces, hands, feet. Remember when i did you feet and Shanes? Well this was BETTER! It was so cool. I wrote a new thought on my page. Go to it and see what you think. Love you! Theresa http://tcs.urx.com
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