Made For Rest
O Giver of Love, and all that is good You have provided Sabbath for me, calendar marked since the dawn of time for me.
Oh how I needed rest in my mommy years, we practiced Sabbath, knew You made this holy day for me my personal gift it seemed. Saying no to everyday on Sunday protected gave rest and life.
Oh, how I need rest, today, in these sandwich years Children gone, parents aging easier to ignore Sabbath now No little eyes watching So much work to be done in this season, so little time.
Often, we Your children, think Your Old Testament admonitions archaic, outdated. You shall keep the Sabbath holy. What’s wrong with a Sunday run to the grocery store a quick trip to the mall Sunday practices for our kids’ teams?
Nothing inherently, But doing the ordinary tarnishes the holy. Ignoring His intentions declares I know better.
Sabbath is rhythm the stability of constancy the weekly celebration of the resurrection a day to rejoice in redemption and rest never for legalism.
In music there are rests, for balance in harmony, crescendo, conclusion. In painting planned spaces for calming neutrals, pauses for the eye, balance for color intensity.
Rising bread must rest night was made for rest winter another ordained pause for rest. Our fallen from perfection bodies need rest, this need reminds me of my limits, finitude, my every breath a reliance on Thee.
Rest is sacred, it’s practice declared holy, but we doers can’t imagine change, work, accomplishment, in rest … in sleep … yet, He gives to His beloved even in his sleep.*
Lord, my life is full of good things but I often try too much; we moderns foolishly fill calendars to the brink, evenings, before dawn risings, weekends jammed. Little margins, few boundaries, frantic pace, few pauses, pure days of rest.
Your words are life, wisdom, guidance, health. You gave me Sabbath for my good my rest for our collective good, your children.
By keeping it I bow before your eternal wisdom and declare I am ever Yours my God. Honoring Your rhythms choosing to keep Sabbath honors You. Thank You for this gift of rest, which I need more than I know. Amen.