We love our weekends don’t we! You do the whole 9-5 thing and by the time the weekend hits, you’re just ready to catch up on the lawn, run the kids where they need for practice or game time, or just take it slow. Many of us will spend some extra time sleeping in on these weekend days.
I’m not necessarily that guy however. I don’t care for those full days of nothing to do. I’m kind of keep on moving kind of guy. I like a good project to keep me busy. Whether it’s a remodeling job or some lawn work or tending the garden, I’m a fan of filling my day with some kind of activity.
As many know, my full time gig is to pastor a church. With that comes a bit of a different schedule. My Sundays are kind of go time. And there are often Saturdays mixed in when I have things that just have to be done. So what about that weekend? Trust me this is not a complaint by any means.
One thing that’s kind of thrown at me from time to time is the idea of sabbath. For those who are not familiar with the term, Sabbath is a day of rest. It was taught in the Bible and was grasped by several cultures around the world as part of their rhythm of life.
But the sabbath probably isn’t what we all think it to be. There are likely tons of things written on the formal ways to observe the sabbath. There were restrictions on how many steps you could take in a day or what you could cook or buy and many other things to be honest. But they all presupposed one thing…working.
You see many will go all the way back to the book of Genesis when God created the heavens and earth and then rested on the 7th day as evidence that we need to take it easy and rest. But when did that day of rest happen? On the 7th day. After he had worked 6 days.
As a matter of fact, the way the sabbath was taught in ancient Jewish culture was in just that way. You were to take your sabbath rest after doing 6 full days of work. I know many people who will work some of those 60 hour weeks for a stretch and need some down time. I would agree that this is important! But if you’re not working 6 days then the sabbath isn’t what we’re after technically.
Look I’m not sayin the sabbath is bad or your five day week packing 60 hours isn’t hard work. I’m just saying that the details behind the sabbath presumed a 6 day work week. I don’t know if they tracked hours in ancient cultures like we do. I don’t know if they touted their long work week back then? Not sure that was the point. I think they worked until the job was done then they moved on. When it was time to stop to rest, well they stopped to rest. It was pretty much that simple.
Maybe we could try a little game in the weeks ahead. Work when you’re supposed to be working. I mean really give it your all. No social. No texting the friend for the weekend plans. No side gig on work time. No searching recipes or home reno designs on Pinterest. Just work. All in while you’re there.
Then when you get home, turn it off! Don’t handle work things on home time. When you’re with the family, be with the family. I’ve learned that it’s easy to allow a little work to creep in here and a little there until we’re pretty much working from home constantly.
I don’t think that a sabbath will solve the problem. I personally think we need to get a better handle on the way and time and locations of our work. I think we need to reestablish healthy rhythms and we’ll find mini sabbaths all through our day.
So find your pause button. Hit it from time to time. Leave your work at work and your home at home. I bet you’ll be able to find that day off or two already nestled in your current week you just had it spread out over a 7 day span of time.
