[Jesus] said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while."
For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. Mark 6:31
How frustrating! To be at work doing good deeds, mitzvahs, and then when you try to take a much needed break just to catch your breath and eat a meal .... the crowds find you and the circus begins all over again. There must have been times when Jesus felt more than a bit like the Hebrew slaves in Egypt, working 12 and 14 hour days, 7 days a week, trying to meet quotas that were not just unreasonable but downright impossible. All those thousands of people needing to be healed, needing food, needing guidance, direction, hope.
And are we not slaves ourselves? Slaves to the 24/7 ability to be contacted by 'the job'; slaves to the fact that we can go online and shop or pay bills or make banking transfers at any point, slaves to the media campaigns that have convinced us we never have 'enough' or our children never 'do' or 'experience' enough. We hike and bike and camp and take classes and garden and bake bread from scratch and make all the ornaments for the Christmas Tree ourselves and make ourselves crazy over turning 1 day in our life some magical fairyland experience and only end up costing ourselves the down payment on a house or buy a car outright. And when they get to the end of the day, the newlyweds are too exhausted to go anywhere and have any memory of it.
And if we would only obey the 3rd commandment? What then? "Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy." does not mean "Go to your hour of worship every Sunday and forget it all the rest of the week! It means: REST and be REFRESHED one day each week (because you cannot GIVE to others what you are totally OUT OF STOCK on yourself! To those slaves in Egypt who worked unceasingly, this was JOYOUS GOOD NEWS!!!! What about us?
+ what 1 thing can you choose NOT to do this week in order to rest and refresh instead?
+ what 1 thing can you choose to DO for yourself this week that you probably would not have
done, something that will be restful and refreshing and life-giving for you?
+ what effect does it have on a person if they consistently ignore the command to observe sabbath?
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| For me, looking at the world through my 'lens eyes'. is always Sabbath time. Early one Sunday morning I was in the church and this sight took my breath away. Out came the Blackberry ... frustrated with the inability to get a clear, focused photo with it held high I returned in a moment with my Sony to capture this. |
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| Sandcastles are an art form in some families .... or you can admire the ones other people have made! |
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| Catching a sandpiper in a clean shot is no mean feat; managing the reflection took patience and the investment of nearly half and hour! |
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| Seeing the dolphins is enough.... getting them in frame is a gift! |
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| the best nap I've had on the beach in years.... helping fussy Meghan have hers |
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| keeping cool closer to home at Ohiopyle with Daughter-in-law's cousins Kelly + Cait |
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| Besides my sister and me, my cousin Nancy also inherited Aunt Lou's photo gene |
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| but I come back to my idea of permanent sabbath --- my shoulders 'untense' at the keyboard just looking at Merle in the sandchair with the water over her ankles... and no worries |
