Walking. Sitting. Reflecting. Reading. Being. Seeking. So many things come to mind when I think of ways that I have practiced Sabbath in my life.
Growing up, like most people I imagine, I thought of Sabbath only as church on Sunday. Certainly a good place to start. I cannot say how or when I started experiencing Sabbath in a different way. But I do know that I have come to treasure it.
Walking. Sitting. Reflecting. Reading. Being. Seeking. So many things come to mind when I think of ways that I have practiced Sabbath in my life.
I am single. Some people seem to think that this gives me a lot of free and quiet time in my day to day routine. So why would I need to seek out Sabbath? I have come to learn that Sabbath doesn’t just happen. If I am not intentional, my quiet time can be filled with as much distraction as the next person.
I watched a movie recently, set in a slum where there was absolutely no privacy or personal space. In a moment of anguish a mother needed a space to weep. Standing by a clothes line, with her children and the hustle and bustle of the neighborhood all around her, the woman pulled some clothes from the line to cover her face. And in that simple act, she had found a place of quiet. Sometimes perhaps we look too hard to find Sabbath or to create a Sabbath rest.
For me, Sabbath is not so much about a day or a set time. I think, like the woman in the movie, I experience Sabbath in small moments every day – and often unexpectedly I find myself being refreshed by a conversation, or by something I see or hear or observe and I give thanks. And in that giving of thanks, I position my spirit in gratitude and thanksgiving.
I experience Sabbath as a verb. Not a passive cessation of activity but being fully awake to see God at work in the moments of my life.
“For all that has been – thanks. For all that will be – yes.” – Dag Hammarskjold
Written by April Foster, Others Director
