The weather outside has been frightful! Today, I find myself having the second day in a row of staying home due to ice. While my husband zoomed off in his Jeep with 4-wheel drive, my little car doesn’t handle this very well. But I’ve made an interesting observation through all these “snow days” and “cold days” and “ice days” that we’ve been having.
Have you listened to how people have spent them? I saw pictures of kids sliding down a frozen driveway in sleds (I don’t know how they got back UP the driveway, but that’s another story.) I saw pictures of snowmen that were built. I heard stories of hot chocolate and games and artwork.
That’s just the kids. From the adults, I’ve heard about special baking. I’ve heard about time spent with the kids playing games or laughing. I’ve heard about those who truly nested — wrapped up in blankets and spending the day catching up on reading. And through all of this, I would argue that there’s a very spiritual message in here for us. God used the word way back in the book of Exodus: “Sabbath.”
On a theological level, we can consider that God made us co-creators in an unfinished world. God set the template for how we are to work: work hard for six days and then rest on the seventh. It was a gift, not only to the Israelites, but to their slaves and animals also.
Today, most of us work far harder than we realize. Even though we have all these time-saving devices at our fingertips, we feel that we need to use every spare moment. That tends to make us really stressed. Do you know of anyone who has their finger in so many different pies that they barely have a moment for themselves? At times, I can be that person. Then something inevitably happens — you get sick, the car breaks down, the basement floods — and that carefully planned schedule falls to pieces. But because the schedule is packed so tightly, there aren’t enough open holes to reschedule things. And you wonder how things got this crazy. You find yourself helping the kids with homework at 10 p.m. because you ran from work to the fundraiser supper to the basketball game — and whoops — we need a healthy snack to send for the class treat tomorrow morning. Not only are you a basket case, but your kids and spouse are picking up on all this stress too.
This isn’t what God intends for us! And God has answer. It’s Sabbath. It’s the cycle where we open up some space and breathe. We recognize the blessings of drawing a breath and watching a sunset. We make snow angels with our children and even put mini marshmallows in the hot chocolate afterward.
And yes, Sabbath is about holiness. It should include praising the God who made it possible, but Sabbath is about more than that.
Staying in bed all day and catching up on all the sleep you missed during the week doesn’t honor the Sabbath, but perhaps taking a nap does. Running around town doing all the errands you didn’t have time for during the week doesn’t honor the Sabbath, but visiting your family or a close friend might. What does it take for you to catch your breath again? Why aren’t you doing it? It’s all a part of God’s plan for us! Till next time!
— Reflections appears regularly on the religion page. The column features a variety of local writers, coordinated through the Monroe Area Clergy Group. Kelly Jahn is pastor of the Juda Zion and Oakley Union United Methodist Churches.
