Sabbath? Huh?

I haven't posted anything since the entry called "Sabbath 2."  Is that because I haven't had one since?  I forget when I wrote that post, but once Advent was in full-gear, I believe I did get something of a Sabbath, oh about every 1.25 weeks or so.  Not too bad for a new pastor during a crunch time of year.  I was even getting enough exercise at the time.  It's just finding time for that "day of rest" required a whole different approach to figuring out what a "day" is.

Sometimes I guess you have to resign yourself to finding portions that add up to a day.  It takes a little more attention during a time when you are experiencing an overload of other tasks.  But I think the "intention" is as important as the "attention" you give to ensuring you have a Sabbath.
The "dream Sabbath" to me begins as:

• I luxuriate in restfulness between 5:30 and 7:30/8:00AM, 
• listening to the radio and 
• not thinking about anything I have to do that day, 
• then making coffee, 
• sitting down in the easy chair, 
• the cat jumps on my lap, 
• I flip through a book, 
• read the Bible,
• eat some cereal, 
• watch some CNN, 
• check e-mail, 
• surf the net,
• get some exercise, play some silly games on Wii, 
• cook something free-form, like soup or stew or a tossed pasta thing, 

and after that who knows?  That's a good start of the day but I always lose track of time on days like that.  I think that's a wonderful aspect of Sabbath for me is I can lose track of time.

If you cannot have that sort of Sabbath day, it's okay.  It's worth taking a moment to work it into your days.  I plan longer breaks in between stints of work.  I try to plan my work in 4 hour time chunks.  It works best for people who work out of their home.  I set my mind on a set of "tasks" that will work in that amount of time and plan to do it all in 4 hours.

Sabbath?  I need to be creative sometimes, especially during busy high church seasons, but a Sabbath is possible.  I believe in it!