Spring Sabbath

"We are to garden creation as lovers of God and neighbor. That call to garden includes the gardening of our bodies and the cultivation of the world as a whole.

This means that at heart, all of our work is to cultivate the earth for the sake of love, not for the sake of our name. 

But that implies we're supposed to respect our God-given limits in the process, not ignore them."

~Justin Whitmel Early, "The Body Teaches the Soul"

 

Rest

"Rest is a vital activity in all of creation, including us. When we forgo rest, we are not only running ourselves to exhaustion but forfeiting one of God's primary provisions for us. As part of God's original, perfect creation, rest was meant to meet us with peace and clarity. It keeps us from dialing up our lives to an unsustainable pace. It transfers us out of a domain of chaos and frenzy and centers us in God's presence, where we remember what matters most and where God would have us invest our time and energy." 

~Eryn Lynum, "The Nature of Rest"

The recent snow and ice forced us to slow down and gave us space to spend time with people we love doing things we don't normally have time and energy to do. 

Like a spontaneous afternoon of drinking coffee and playing Azul with my cousin, Luke. The slower pace and the laughter created a perfect Sunday afternoon.

Sweet Sabbath

"To work in accordance with the Sabbath way is to protest by resisting the identity lies and cultural forces that fuel our anxiety, busyness, and distraction. The Sabbath way also invites us to play with life, to experiment and try things out so we can embrace slowness, gratitude, and delight." ~Travis West, 

"The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

My seed order arrived! And the free seed packet Baker Creek sent me is "Alice's Dream". There is no way they could have known our first grandbaby will be named Alice! I'm looking forward to playing and experimenting in the garden this spring and summer so I can "embrace slowness, gratitude, and delight".

 

Sweet Sabbath

"One of the reasons I'm so compelled by the life of habit is that I see habits as a way for light to shine in an age of darkness. Cultivating a life of habits means our ordinary ways of living stand out in a culture, dancing like candles in the night."

~Justin Whitmel Early, "The Common Rule: Youth Edition"

 This quote made me think of some of my favorite Bible verses, Phillipians 2:12b-16:

...continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfill his good purpose. Do everything without grumbling or arguing, that you may become blameless and pure children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation". Then you will shine among them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life.

Everything I've read by this author points me to orderly habits that build a trellis to support the fruit the Lord grows in our lives. Early's newest book is no exception, and I'm soaking up every word during the dark, cold winter mornings.

Sweet Sabbath

"Sabbath is a way to say yes to YHWH. To silence Pharaoh's voice and break free from Egypt's pull and to tune our life to YHWH, the rest-God. It's a way to remember and never forget that what we're craving, and even coveting, isn't found in the world of space, but in the world of time - in God himself....The world and all the stuff in it are gifts to enjoy, not gods to worship."

~John Mark Comer, "Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human"

 This recipe for Sausage and Egg Cottage Cheese Breakfast Casserole is certainly a gift to be enjoyed. The combination of sitting on the porch with a cup of tea and eating off these autumn dishes that belonged to my great-grandmother? That adds up to slowing down and saying "yes to YHWH".

Sweet Sabbath

Sabbath isn't just a day to not work, it's a day to delight in what one Hebrew poet called "the work of our hands" To delight in the life you've carved out in partnership with God, to delight in the world around you, and to delight in God himself. Sabbath is a day to pull up a chair, sink into it, look back over the last six days, and just enjoy. 

~John Mark Comer, "Garden City: Work, Rest, and the Art of Being Human"

I tell my cello students often that if they want to be, they are stuck with me for the rest of their lives. I'm so grateful for the people the Lord has brought across my path through music. Aaron and I helped a former student move recently. A forty-something-year-old mom. Because moving is hard, and we all need community. She was getting rid of her solid oak, childhood table. So, now it sits in my bedroom in a cozy corner. Which is a perfect place to nestle into my great-grandmother's rocking chair and enjoy some Sabbath rest.

 

Sweet Sabbath

"Amazement and astonishment are compelling synonyms for wonder and awe. To see the world this way is to see with eyes of abundance, to be ever open to noticing the extraordinary in the ordinary." 

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

As I hung up my sheets to dry on the line in the backyard, I noticed the beauty of the shadows the rising sun was casting. I love observing the sun move throughout the year, and on Sunday mornings I have a little bit more space for wonder and awe.

Sweet Sabbath

"The Hebrew word Sha'abbat means 'to stop.' But it can also be translated 'to delight.' It has this dual idea of stopping and also of joying in God and our lives in his world."

~John Mark Comer, "The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry"

Things helping me rest and delight these days? Early morning bike rides as the sun rises over Tucker Creek Trail.

Visiting our bountiful farmer's market early on Saturday mornings, enjoying a chat with each vendor, and coming home loaded with beautiful produce also helps me slow down. 

I delight in each colorful item of food, but I also enjoy God's creativity in each of the people He designed. Hearing stories and celebrating with the people who take the time to raise the food is such a delight! Washing and chopping leafy green takes time, so does simmering them in my mom's cast iron Dutch oven with bacon from one of my favorite farmers. Stopping. Delighting. Sabbathing.

Sweet Sabbath

"...each week we have an opportunity to reorient back toward the Sabbath way -- a way marked by slowness, gratitude, abundance, and delight. Staying on that path will require some hard choices."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

Summer is drawing to a close, school is beginning, Aaron is preparing to leave for another trip to the Solomon Islands. The weekends are quickly filling with activities. Staying on the path "marked by slowness, gratitude, abundance, and delight" (which is where I certainly want to walk) will require intentional planning and preparation as well as a willingness to live in a way that goes against the flow of our modern American culture.

 

Feeling the Tug

"The Sabbath invitation is to be very clear about what our values are in relation to time, so that when we feel the tug between fast and slow, distraction and presence, work and play, productivity and the people we love, the choice we make aligns with or values and the way we want to show up to our lives." ~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way"

On any given "normal" week, Katherine and I don't have many hours that are dictated for us, and Aaron's work hours are flexible. His meetings often last into supper time or later because they coordinate with Solomon Island time. We definitely feel the tug between "fast and slow, distraction and presence, work and play, productivity and the people we love".

Recently, Katherine did some dog-sitting and stayed in Little Rock for eight days. I met her at a coffee shop to check her summer school progress and to spend some time catching up. Aaron continues translation advisor checking through the rough drafts our team has finished. I joked with him that he dressed to match the decor :)

I continue striving to align my choices with my values, and the thought of my next round of scans and checkups for cancer is never far from my mind. Stewarding my physical body remains a priority for me, not to the neglect of my emotional, mental, or spiritual health, so I can have the capacity to also steward those areas of my life well. 

Sweet Sabbath

"Each week as we experiment with embracing our enough-ness, reconnecting to our bodies, decoupling our value from our productivity, and receiving the gifts of rest and delight, we are partnering with the Spirit in discovering the abundant life Jesus came to offer us."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

My friend, Tanya, planted nasturtium seeds and grew some for my birthday present. The bright orange blossoms begin to unfold this week, and every time I see them, I receive the "gifts of rest and delight".

Something that helps me reconnect with my body and decouple my value from my productivity is pushing preschoolers on our backyard swing. Listening to them squeal and ask for more over and over and over brings me joy and encourages me not to look at my watch or worry about my long list of things to do. The Holy Spirit uses these precious kiddos to discover the "abundant life that Jesus came to offer" in fresh, new ways.

 

Patience, Presence, and Play

"The Sabbath teaches us that time is love and shows us the power of living with patience, presence, and play."

 ~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

This summer season has been unexpectedly busy. Mostly with facilitating relocations. We're grateful for the flexibility to be available for our young adults and friends who find themselves moving recently.

 Last Sunday, Benjamin utilized the Choate Bed and Breakfast, arriving in the middle of night and leaving early in the morning with my mom's vehicle and trailer to finish moving the last pieces of furniture from Houston to Kansas City.

We joined my aunt and uncle for lunch in Hazen. Time with them is always sweet. Samuel and Katherine made music together.

Elizabeth and I took a quick walk, doing our best to get back to the house before the growing dark clouds and rain caught us.

At First Baptist Church in Hazen, Aaron shared about our Bible translation work with the Lavukaleve project. We enjoy playing games and awarding prizes to help inject a little bit of fun.

This time, we added some games from "The Price is Right", like Up, Down, Stay the Same, but using Bible translation figures instead of prices :) Our Sabbath may have been busy, but it was still a day filled with patience, presence, and play.

Sweet Sabbath

"[Sabbath] wants to be the metronome that establishes and maintains our life's rhythm." 

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way"

I'm marinating in this idea that the Sabbath pace informs and directs the week's rhythm, that we carry that pace and peace with us from Sunday to Sunday. West's book is giving me many meaty ideas to ponder.

 

Sweet Sabbath

"Sabbath rest is radical because it means putting rest -- and delight, and flourishing -- first rather than last."

~Travis West, "The Sabbath Way: Making Room in Your Life for Rest, Connection, and Delight"

What a week it has been. A glorious, pouring out, nurturing our community kind of week. A time to say thank you for the care Aaron's mom received when she had a stroke, a time to help multiple families move, a time to provide food and fellowship for tender hearts. Physical rest has been elusive, but delight has been abundant.

Small ones who experienced the thrill of dandelions for the first time. Many meals provided for extras. Extra local food gifted by my favorite farmer when I helped just a wee bit.

The first long bean of the season. Kind people to help Katherine when her car broke down, and we were all in different places. And so much more.

A Good, but Inconvenient, Life

"A meaningful life is often inconvenient—and that’s what makes it good. It asks for effort, for presence, for staying when things aren’t easy. If we want to feel rooted, purposeful, and less alone, we need to reclaim a little inconvenience." ~Israa Nasir

If you have a few thoughtful minutes today, might you click on the link above and read this well written article? Nasir puts my thoughts into words on a page. I'm also beginning to wonder how these concepts connect to and support the idea of a Sabbath lifestyle.

"This is the culture we’ve built, one that tells us convenience is king, that needing people is weak, and that time is only valuable if it is optimized. But this cult of convenience carries a cost: our relational muscles have atrophied, and our tolerance for the messy, beautiful work of being in community has all but disappeared." This summer, I'm seeking to build community by inviting friends to take a walk with me. Sometimes it's a 6:30 a.m. before work walk, sometimes it's a middle of the day "walk on the trail to a coffee shop" kind of walk. 

Growing my own food and buying from local farmers isn't convenient or efficient, but the results are worth it. My little raised beds take time and energy as I sprinkle diatomaceous earth to ward off aphids and avoid pesticides. My farmer buddies get up early and work hard all day, depending on the Lord to provide the right weather conditions. Their food tastes better than anything we can buy at the grocery store, and the way these farmers care for their animals and plants is good stewardship of our earth.

I'm tossing Nasir's words about time and relationships into the pot on the backburner of my mind to let them simmer for a while.

Sweet Sabbath

"The proximity of a Sabbath practice (in that it happens in direct and regular relationship to my everyday relationships and circumstances) helps to clear my vision to see more completely and lovingly what I have." ~Justin McRoberts, Sacred Strides

Recently, several people have reached out to tell me how much they are enjoying my hydrangeas. I can't take much credit, my mom grew these from her own plants, then placed them along the north side of our house while we were overseas.

 

Slowing down to intentionally rest certainly helps "clear my vision to see more completely and lovingly what I have". What do I have? Beautiful flowers, certainly. But also, a thoughtful mama and a community that cares enough to tell me that they are also soaking up the beauty of God's creation in my yard.

Sweet Sabbath

"True rest implies worship and restoration, savoring the presence of the Lord. But rest is not limited to prayer and praise. It involves relaxation, too. Rest is not the passive leisure of entertainment. Instead, restful activities should fill in all the desolate places of your mind, body, and emotions. They should refuel and repair your soul." ~Jamie Erickson, "Holy Hygge"

If you need me, I'll be outside breathing in the fragrance of my lone gardenia bloom and basking in the joy of the brilliant hydrangeas my mom planted for us when we bought this house.

Sweet Sabbath

Gentle attention is really important. I can notice my fear and come to it with anger: "Ugh, here we go again. I hate this!" But then what I'm really doing is shaming myself. If I come to it with a sense of speed -- "Let's get this over with as quickly as possible" -- I am dismissing the fear as not that important. But if I approach my fear with a gentleness and a curiosity, I unlock the chance to really deeply learn from it. ~Will Acuff, "No Elevator to Everest"

The peonies are popping. They remind me to slow down, to take the time to approach my reactions with gentleness and curiosity.

 

Sweet Sabbath

  "One of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life. When we center our lives on the idol, we become dependent on it. If our counterfeit god is threatened in any way, our response is complete panic." 

~Tim Keller, "Counterfeit Gods"

Sometimes, the smallest things surprise me by the grip they can take on my life. I might as well buy a little gold statue and call them what they are, idols! Most recently, I realized my little seedlings have been growing little roots into my heart while they expanded into their pots. I wouldn't have become aware, but Katherine helped open my eyes when she accidently backed the van over several trays of tomato and pepper seedlings sunning in the driveway.

My response shocked me. Why was I so upset about plants? Because I had invested money and time and energy for the last three months, and that investment had just been crushed. The upcoming plant sale might be threatened. The Lord graciously revealed my heart. He also provided many other sources of joy in which I had no way to take credit. These beautiful yellow irises were gifts from my friend, Lauren, several years ago. 

Sweet Sabbath

"The limit is set by the weekly work pause that breaks the production cycle. And those who participate in it break the anxiety cycle. They are invited to awareness that life does not consist in frantic production and consumption that reduces everyone else to threat and competitor.

And as the work stoppage permits a waning of anxiety, so energy is redeployed to the neighborhood. The odd insistence of the God of Sinai is to counter anxious productivity with committed neighborliness. The latter practice does not produce so much, but it creates an environment of security and respect and dignity that redifines the human project." 

~Walter Brueggman, "Sabbath as Resistance"

I never considered "committed neighborliness" as an antidote to "anxious productivity". But the act of taking flowers to Grandma and sitting with her for an afternoon does slow me down. And hosting a game night for friends who live a couple of blocks away takes my energy from other things and redeploys it to my neighborhood. Those activities also refresh me in ways I can't explain.