Something I learned last year was how important taking a Sabbath day is. It’s an intentional time of resting, and spending time with God and others. A time to not get caught up in the busyness of life and work and to slow down.
I’m learning that it’s a gift from God that we often take for granted or skip out on.
When I was intentional with taking a weekly day of rest, it allowed me to reflect on my week and to bring my honest thoughts to God, as well as see in what ways He was working, that I might have missed out on.
I will be honest. It’s sometimes hard to carve that time out. For one, things can get busy and feel urgent and it’s easy to push this time off to another week. Or we may not even know how to connect to God.
Sometimes we can feel guilt with it too. When there are so many fires to put out, and we are stepping aside to rest or do something relaxing or enjoyable for ourselves… it can feel selfish. But let me just say, it is not. We have to be refilled with the Lord. We cannot do what He calls us to do and go into the world and serve and work and share Jesus when we ourselves are giving from an empty cup. Balance is so important so we don’t do things in our own strength and burn out.
What your Sabbath time can look like is totally up to you. A walk in the park, a massage, laying on the couch, or meeting a friend for lunch. I think it’s whatever is relaxing and restful to you and a time to step away from the busyness and distractions and acknowledge God and spend some intentional time with Him.
If you are unsure where to start, below I have some reflection questions that can help you ponder with the Lord. Take a pen and a notebook to a coffee shop or on a walk somewhere and bring your honest thoughts to the Lord.
Here are the writing prompts that I have utilized on my Sabbath days and that I have found helpful.
1. What Positive Things Happened This Week?
This has taught me to train my brain to look for the good first and really dig to be reminded of the positive things I may have forgotten about. I’m often surprised that the list ends up longer than I thought it would.
2. What was Hard This Week?
This leaves space to be honest with God and yourself. It’s not about toxic positivity and only focusing on the good, but leaving room to acknowledge the hard things that happened and were difficult. It’s not about finding solutions to solve it, again it’s allowing yourself to say how you’re really feeling, even when it’s a negative emotion.
3. What is God Teaching Me This Week?
This helps me keep a good perspective to recognize that in the midst of the good and bad, God is still present and working. I may not see Him or hear Him or feel Him, but taking the time to reflect has helped me see that every week, God is teaching me something. And it’s helpful to write it down and keep track of.
I hope this helps you kick start your Sabbath-ing and you see the fruit of resting. I know I need to take my own advice. I’ve struggled with being still and found it easier to stay busy. I had to have a whole season to just learn how to even rest, because it did not come easily to me even with the dedicated time set aside.
I plan to go explore God’s creation because I see now that taking vacation off from work is not about escaping where you are to get away. It’s taking time to relax and see all the amazing things God has created all around us. And in that, we enjoy time with Him and/or others and find a beautiful balance to doing life.
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