Day 28.

The sabbath. It sounds like something strange and peculiar that only exists among the Amish or in the Old Testament. I decided not too long ago that I was going to try to keep the sabbath in a way that any non-Seventh Day Adventist, college kid would--by not working from sundown Friday night to Sunday morning. Makes perfect sense, right? No, I'm not trying to give myself an excuse for not doing school work on the weekends. I will actually be waking up very early tomorrow morning on a Sunday to read, do, and plan school work for the upcoming week/ two weeks/ month. It is so much work. I'm actually afraid that I might not be able to get all my work done with routinely taking Saturday as a sabbath. Then why do it, you ask? My small group is reading a book, forgive me for not remembering the title, about the sabbath that is terribly inspiring. I have learned a lot from the book about what the sabbath, according to the bible, actually is and why it is important. The book also talks about something called a sabbath heart, something that is more important than setting a day or even a couple hours a week aside to call a sabbath. The sabbath heart, I do recall, is concerned with sanctifying time, devoting it to God, loving people, embracing interruptions, not telling time, and with counting days. Well, at least that is what I have learned so far. I have only read to two pages into chapter five....I think there are about twelve chapters so I have a lot more to learn. I read the first two pages of chapter five today and really enjoyed them. (ya, laugh all you want about it only being two pages.) The author talks about drivenness and purposefulness, and how both are quite lovely. However, he says, and I agree, that if we become too driven we will forget what our purpose for what we are doing is. What that has to do with the sabbath, I will explain in a moment. I have felt so driven lately, but have managed to lose track of my purpose for doing the many things I do. Now I get to re-examine the why of my life--fun stuff. Back to sabbath, right. Well the book suggests that the sabbath is a good thing, good for you, and I agree with it. It is a restful blessing, and used properly it can be a refilling of the best sorts. The book acknowledges that we live busy lives and that blocking off any amount of time away from work is difficult so it discusses issues of time management in a biblical way, which means discussing time management in the realm of a sabbath heart. Which is where the chapter I am reading now comes with being purposeful and hospitable to interruptions without being to driven that you lose all purpose for what you are doing and become closed to the many interruptions that seem to have a larger hand in shaping our lives than anything else.