a lesson learned

Before i continue recounting the many adventures we had over midsemester break i'd like to share a huge lesson i learned recently.  These past few days i have been working pretty hard to get my 2 papers done before Spencer gets here, knowing i will kick myself if i save work to do while he is visiting.  So i have practically lived in the library for the last few days, which has actually gone better than i'd expected.  The weather has been yucky for the entire past week, to the point where i am really surprised if i go outside and it's not raining.  Anyways, i am almost done with one of my papers and Saturday night when i left i thought to myself that i would go back the following afternoon and start on the next assignment...but then it dawned on me that it would be the Sabbath.  I recently have been convicted about what it means to keep the Sabbath.  I've had the blessing of having several conversations with some of my friends about this and i've been thinking more and more lately that i should be more serious about relaxing and not doing any work on Sundays.  In the past i have found it simple enough to not do things like yard work, for example (because my family always operated with the rule of resting on Sundays), but i have always viewed homework as sort of a different thing, like it doesn't apply to the no-working-on-Sundays.  But i am a full-time student, so why would i pretend like homework doesn't apply to the Sabbath, especially when i call it homeWORK??  Basically, i'm owning up to the fact that i've just been making excuses about homework on Sundays, always telling myself than i'm just too busy to not work on Sundays.  But this week i decided to not do any homework.  I don't even know if i can get across to everyone reading this blog how excited i am about this decision, but i'll try anyways.  I had such a refreshing and fulfilling day.  A few friends and i went out to brunch at a place called Caper's - a really cool pancake house that serves the BEST pancakes EVER.  Then we walked around George St. and just took our time getting back to our flats.  Church in the evening, then baked some cookies with other Jen.  Overall, the things i actually did on this Sunday weren't that different from other Sunday's i've had; there have been plenty of whole weekends when i haven't done any homework at all (i can see your frown now mom!).  But the difference here is that i deliberately chose to do no work on this Sabbath.  Because of this i felt so much more free...it's not that i had no work to do, but i was not going to do it then.  It was probably the most stress-free day i've had since i can't even remember when.  It's this epiphany of sorts that makes me better able to understand what my friend Suzi meant when she was talking about resting on the Sabbath.  She told me that she's found when she keeps Sundays set apart from the rest of the week she is actually able to get more done on the other 6 days than she could if she worked 7 days a week.  This totally makes sense to me now, because i just feel so refreshed and rejuvenated and ready for the next week.  Take a moment to reflect on what Exodus 20:8-11 (ESV) says:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

I encourage all of you to challenge yourselves, if you haven't already, to keep the Sabbath.  We are called to do this not for selfish reasons but for our well-being and so that through our resting we will be better able to serve the Lord each week.  God created us, He knows our inner cores and He determined that we would need this Sabbath in order to best live each day.  Why would we choose to ignore this, when it's what's best for us?  I challenge you to save that load of laundry, that home-improvement job, all of those menial tasks and take the day to refresh yourself, get into the word, and relax.  For all of you who are in high school or college, free yourself from studying for this one day a week!  It is such a needed break and will prepare you to be able to go hard all week, until you can have another break the following weekend.  If you go into keeping the Sabbath with an open heart and seeking the Lord i promise that you will not regret it.  Even if you're unsure of making this change, i challenge you to just do it for a week or two, and see for yourself if you are not better because of it.