Intentionality on Sabbath Day

    I loved Sundays growing up because I would go to church and spend the day doing what I wanted to do. Sunday was also the only day where I would not do any homework. I called Sundays my day of rest. As I have gotten older, I have come to realize the importance of Sabbath day being more than simply watching my favorite shows, but it is a time to rest in the presence of God. Not to say I am perfect at this now, but I try now to make Sabbath a day dedicated fully to resting in the Lord's presence. The rest of the week is spent working hard to go to work, get assignments done, and this semester doing my internship. I have a busy schedule, and sometimes it is hard to prioritize rest because I have so much to do with seven classes and work. 

    This semester, I have been working on becoming more intentional with my Sabbath day. I have chosen a time frame that works best for me, typically from 4 pm Saturday until 4 pm Sunday. Saturday, I get done with my internship at 4 pm, and then I typically drive back to campus and eat dinner. I spend the evening doing things like watching shows and hanging out with friends. Sunday, I typically get ready for church and I go to church. I then will eat lunch, and go back to my room to rest. Resting typically involves reading my Bible, listening to worship and praying, and going on a walk. I will sometime write blogs on Sundays as well as an outlet for things I am learning. Today, I spent time going deep into scripture from my sermon notes, praying and repenting based on what I felt conviction for. 

    After I rest, I reset for the new week. I clean up my room, and I do laundry. This helps me prep for a new week of busyness. Cleaning is not always something I like to do, but in making this a weekly habit, I turn on either a Christian Podcast or a story to listen to while I am cleaning up. This is typically my transition from my day of rest back into work for the week. This is something new this semester, and I am making it a habit as it allows for me to work in an environment of organization and peace. 

    Sabbath has not always been this way for me because I often would just see it as a day to do whatever I wanted to do. I feel like God wants us to make this day Holy and restful so that we can spend our time working to glorify him Monday through Saturday. For me, without a clean and organized place, I tend to feel stressed out more because of the disorganization. I don't really thrive off disorganization, so by doing this I am able to start off my week strong and reset from the past week. It does seem like working, but the way I do it through listening to a podcast allows it to be restful. 

    The other things I do in Sabbath help with my stress, and I feel rested through doing it. In a season like this one, where I feel like I am constantly going, Sabbath helps me to find time to rest throughout the week. I feel like God designed Sabbath as a way for us to not Sprint to the marathon of his destiny for our lives, as that would leave us warn out and weary, but as a way to come to him to receive rest for our souls in the midst of this marathon he designed for us. 

    I prioritize the Sabbath because I realize the importance of rest. Again, it is so easy to be burnt out if we don't prioritize rest in our lives. I know this from the past two weeks when my Sundays have been days of making up my internship hours. It definitely felt different and more tiring to go through my weeks not having a full day off. I believe Sabbath is important and God established rest in this way because he realizes that in our humanity we need time to rest. And not just to rest in what we want to do, which can be great, but also to spend the day worshipping him, sitting with him, praying, being in community, and reading the Bible. 

    I see posts talking about how we spend from the time we are 4, starting preschool, to 65, being retirement, working. People don't typically see work as a means to enjoy life, and only see work as an obligation to live a good life. I can see it intertwined when we have the mindset of what God has called us to do. Work can be made enjoyable if we have a positive mindset in the work that we do. Work is important indeed, and it should be a good way to glorify the Lord. Rest is just as important though, and I don't think that we have to work from the time we are 4 to 65 all the time. Life is meant to be enjoyed through rest and through what we do in our work.