S4 E13: An Invitation to Sabbath + Intentional Snow Days!

Hi everyone!  I sure hope you are doing well! I’m still coming off a fun birthday weekend that I just had! My husband and I took a quick weekend trip to Tennessee to see my parents. It was so wonderful getting to enjoy a little time with them. And Ron and I enjoyed the drive, listening to some of our favorite podcasts and time for lots of great conversations.

We actually drove through the city I grew up in and drove by my old house, my church,  and my school and that is always so fun for me! Such great memories so it’s always fun to reminisce  

As I was thinking about what I wanted to share today I was reminded about something from my days in Tennessee. Summers were hot and winter was cold!  We did enjoy the occasional falling of snow even though it typically didn’t last that long unless it was a major winter storm blowing through.

So I do have some fun memories of playing in the snow, some of the funniest memories are about all the times as kids we would stay up late watching the latest news reports and praying fervently that school would be called off because of the “forecast” of snow. That was the great thing about being surrounded by ridges, hills and mountains. Just the high probability of ice or snow could close things down for days and we were thrilled to be blessed with the gift of SNOW DAYS!

The enjoyment of “SNOW DAYS” continued on into my college years. The difference in these SNOW DAYS was they weren’t determined by the weather haha!

Typically someone in our “friend group” would deem it a SNOW DAY and we would all follow suit and live as though classes had been canceled  and we were free of all responsibilities that day.

I have several books that talk about sabbath and it made me smile when one of them written by Pete Scazzero stated...

“Sabbath is like receiving the gift of a heavy snow day every week.”

“Stores are closed. Roads are impassable. Suddenly you have the gift of a day to do whatever you want. You don’t have any obligations, pressures or responsibilities. You have permission to play, be with your friends, take a nap, read a good book. Few of us would give ourselves a “no-obligation day” very often. God gives you one every seventh day.”

He goes on to say that God knew that if the people of Israel were to be true to their calling and purpose, they would need more than weekly Sabbaths. That they would need longer stretches of time to stop, rest, to delight and contemplate him. 

So what did God do he built into their national economic and political life entire Sabbatical years! He actually commanded Israel to give the land a “sabbath of rest” one year in every seven (Leviticus 25:1-7) and since he knew this would require them to have great faith and trust  Him for provision, God promised that what they harvested in year six would be enough to feed them for two whole years!

For me this season we’ve been in the last several months seems like an a worldwide invitation to Sabbath rest.  And it’s interesting because even though rest is a big part of that so is growth!

I think that’s what can be confusing at times because rest can be equated to being lazy. When pure true rest is so beneficial and needed to grow and be healthy in every way...BODY, SOUL and SPIRIT.

The invitation is to stop striving. To get comfortable with not having a bazillion places to run off to endless activities.

It’s an invitation to stop stressing over the need for things to “get back to normal” and surrender and accept the life He is offering us at this moment.

It’s an invitation to get comfortable with just being and not doing all the time.

An invitation to realize that who you are will always be more important than what you do.

But here’s the thing about invitations…

They’re not always accepted.

Maybe you’re not in the mood to accept an invitation to rest. And you are resisting everything about this moment of uncertainty. And that’s fine. It is your choice.

All I’m asking is to consider the invitation…

The invitation to come home.

To him… and his rhythms of life

To yourself and all that he designed and purposed you for

An invitation to trust and know that he is your provider and that he can bring forth good fruit from your life in this season as you rest in Him.

So Thankful for you and I’m cheering you on and believing God’s best for you in this season!

Talk soon!