When God created the world he spent six days creating and one day resting. When God gave Moses the commandments she included a day of rest in with commands to honor your parents, follow only God, not murder, lie, covet, or have extramarital sexual relations. It seems like this idea of a day of rest, a Shabbat, is a pretty big deal. So why is it that we have relegated it to a two hour time on Sunday mornings when we go to church? We are always talking about wanting more vacation time, more time with family, more time without responsibilty. And God commands us to take it. But we don’t. Why is it okay to ignore this command but not the other ones?
It’s harder for me to obey this command than almost any other one. It’s not that I doubt this one command is as important as others, it’s just that it’s easier to ignore. For starters, my job has me working 6 or 7 days a week. It’s the rare week when Saturday is free. Sundays are the busiest time for me, and M-F I’m busy planning, meeting, and attending student events. Technically I have Friday off, so this seems like the logical sabbath for me. But with the craziness of the other days I usually end up runnig errands on Friday and many Fridays have me going to plays and/or concerts for students. I’m sure the same is true of the business man. He works M-F and has to play catch up on Saturday. That leaves only Sunday for sabbath and I’m sure things creep into his schedule just like mine. So what do we do? How do we honor this command?
I’m exhausted. Physically, spiritually, emotionally exhausted. I need a break. I’m taking a short vacation in a couple weeks- I’m going camping. Into the woods alone. A time for me to catch up on sleep and enjoy silence with God. But I wonder, would I be so exhausted if I honored the weekly time that is meant to be about just being with God?
I have no answers. I know I need to make time for shabbat, but I don’t know how. I know I am starting by spending the afternoon doing nothing- napping, reading (for fun), and just being. Perhaps that is all we can do. Grab the time we have and make the most of it. Kind of like every other part of faith.
