Work 6 days, rest 1…work 6 days, rest 1…work 6, rest 1…work 6, rest 1…

What is so stinking hard about that?  Why is this the commandment we not only break regularly, but with great pride?  "Oh, I am so swamped…I am soooo busy…I have this going and that going and – and – and…"  And we are defeated and tired and broken down and lost in fatigue wondering where our spark has gone?  There has to be more than this to life, right?  Weren't we created for something more?

Here's how everybody knows when you haven't been keeping the Sabbath holy and making every effort to enter the rest God has for you…that's right – it is a GIFT! (see Hebrews 4).  When:

• you're crabby
• you're habitually tired, worn out, fatigued
• you have no joy, but deep frown lines
• you are too important to be able to take a day off from work
• you are restless, you allow no one around you any rest, either
• you are burned out, stressed out
• you can't breathe
• you're unhumanly tired, but cannot sleep
• you have general flu-like achiness all over, you swell up
• your heart beats rapidly and you feel nervous
• you feel like everything is about to blow up in your face
• your mind is dull, even when you are working, you cannot seem to do it well, so you keep at it around-the-clock, 24/7 trying and trying and trying to no avail

Everybody knows.  I do because, well, you know, it takes one to know one.  I know for myself that when I move away from this gift of rest from God, from this invitation to keep one day of the week separate and holy and peaceful and restful, I fall right back into my striving, workaholism ways making me and everyone around me miserable.  The more time I put into work, the less I get accomplished.

At the Sabbath rest intensive I attended recently (www.getthewordout.cc) Mary Jean gave us a list about what Sabbath, a day set apart to the Lord, a day to keep holy, really is.  I want to share some that hit me between the eyes here.  She said it is more than the absence of work.  A Sabbath…

…is Father's gift to indulge us, bless us, heal us

Oh, my goodness – how would the Church look different if we would accept and receive and repent and obey in this one area alone?  How would I look different, more like the woman God saw when He created me? How healed would our bodies and minds be?  Would sleeping hard from playing hard bring the sweet sleep of our youth back?  Would our brain chemicals get renewed and would we quit turning to food and pain pills and other chemical solutions for what ails us?

Work 6, rest 1…What is so hard about that and why do each of us believe we are the only person to whom that does not apply?…Jeanie

NOTE TO SELF: Remember Him.  Remember the Sabbath He made for me.  Keep it holy.  Get a life, get a healed life. Work 6 – no more than 6, then rest 1.  Period.  Trust Him.  (That just made me think of an old Keith Green song, "Doing our best, pray that it's blessed, and then don't worry-He'll take care of the rest!")