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Why I Started the Routine of Sabbath

Breakdown. Chaos. Mental overload. Tears. These are the consequences from a lack of rest for me. Like the real rest that leaves me feeling refreshed and ready; not a quick 7 hours of sleep and feeling drained at the start of the day. In fact, those consecutive days of 7 hours of sleep but full on, hammer down, go put me in a place of frustration, bitterness, and general disdain for any and all around me. It’s not pretty.

And I’m not making it uglier to make a point. I have scrolled through a social media feed to see other people in my friend circle check-in at a baseball game or a girls night. In my weary mind, it flipped a switch to extreme feelings of isolation and unworthiness. I stood in front of my husband asking me insistently ot tell him what is wrong, only to end up weeping about having no friends. Even though that wasn’t true. Even though, if it had been a rested day, I would have celebrated those friends having a good time out.

A few months ago, I wrote about when I almost quit teaching. That post is by far the most read to date. It makes sense, too. If done right, teaching is hard work. But that doesn’t mean it needs to be life draining work! Nevertheless, work turned into the same situation as with my friends. I lacked energy and enthusiasm, I was sufferring major burnout, and the work felt empty – meaningless. (You can read more about when I almost quit teaching here. Spoiler alert… I did not quit.)

Figuring it out.

I didn’t understand my own problem. Not really anyway. I knew enough to balance truth from my feelings, but not how to address the problem and work on it. That is, until I found John Mark Comer’s work on Sabbath. (You can listen to John Mark’s sermon series on the church website here. And you guessed it, I learned about John Mark from Annie F. Downs podcast, found here.) John Mark shares about the rhythm of work and rest; our glorification of hectic schedules; the need to control everything; our failure to really lean on God.

In John Mark Comer’s book on Sabbath, Garden City (p. 193-194), he writes:

“Here’s what I’m saying: there is a rhythm to this world. For six days we rule and subdue and work and draw out and labor and bleed and wrestle and fight with the ground. But then we take a step back, and for twenty-four hours, we sabbath, we enjoy the fruit of our labor, we delight in God and his world, we celebrate life, we rest, and we worship.

The Creator God is inviting us to join him in this rhythm, this interplay of work and rest. And when we don’t accept his invitation, we reap the consequences. Fatigue. Burnout. Anxiety. Depression. Busyness. Starved relationships. Worn down immune systems. Low energy levels. Anger. Tension. Confusion. Emptiness. These are the signs of life without rest. ”

(If you want to read Garden City, you can find it on Amazon here. I don’t agree with everything John Mark has to say in his writings; however, it is a thoughtful and engaging reflection on the rhythm of Sabbath!)

As you can guess, it can be humbling to recognize the world will move along without us for 24 hours. You may also be in a season of life (such as raising young kiddos) where 24 hours is out of the question. The heart behind Sabbath isn’t a prescriptive set of rules to follow, but instead a heart and desire to spend time away from accomplishing, earning, or chasing to celebrate and worship.

How I Structure Sabbath.

Again, this isn’t prescriptive. Something I love about the language John Mark and Annie use when referring to Sabbath is the word “practice” – Sabbath is something we practice. If that’s the case, practice doesn’t always go well. Some new training techniques don’t work – some plans for Sabbath won’t create the same peace and connection. It’s okay. Keep practicing.

So, I block 2pm on Saturday to 2pm on Sunday for Sabbath. Why? Well, it gives me time to prepare for Sabbath on Saturday mornings by checking off some errands, cleaning the house, getting groceries, etc. in order for me to not keep those chores on my mind during the time of rest. Then over the course of the 24 hour time frame I read (Bible studies, non-fiction, fiction, books are fun), run (because as much as I complain about running, I really do enjoy the feeling of it), ride horses if I can, spend time with my husband, kayaking, playing the ukelele, pretty much whatever I enjoy to delight in the work of creation.

Sunday mornings are slow as I get ready for church and then, typically, eat lunch with Nick and his co-workers before coming home around 1pm. Then, in the final hour or so, I reflect a lot on the previous week and begin to look ahead for what comes next. On Sunday afternoons, after 2pm I’ll finish up chores around the house, write, work, or any number of things to prepare for the week ahead.

Encouragement for Your Practice

It tooks some time to find what worked. Saturday didn’t work. Sunday didn’t work. Obviously a work day wouldn’t work. But after some practice, 2pm – 2pm works, and when it doesn’t, I practice again next week.

Again, John Mark from Garden City (p. 211)

“We need to relearn how to power down, unplug, disconnect, take a break, and be in one place at one time. We forget that we’re not a machine. We can’t work 24/7.

In a world of workaholism and nonstop technology and Amazon.com drone delivery and the unending barrage of consumerism, and in a world of opulent waste and leisure and the revision of the American dream to mean golfing in Florida all day long or driving your Maserati around Beverly Hills – re-calibrating our life to the rhythm of work and rest is more important than ever before. Both underwork and overwork rob us of the capacity to enjoy God and his world. They make us less human.”

Three things I have found from being dedicated to including the practice of Sabbath into my weekly routine:

1. Rest feels restorative: Teaching comes with a desire to 24/7 think about the students in your classroom – I don’t care what age group you teach. That is to say, if you teach for the sake of students (vs your content area), you wonder and worry about your “kiddos” constantly. I still do – that hasn’t changed. However, the routine of Sabbath gave my brain permission to power down (even if it was just to a lower gear and not full throttle) for 24 hours. That alone worked miracles on healing my weariness.

2. More gets done: Seriously. More gets done by taking 24 hours out of the equation. We paid for someone to clean our house once a month because I couldn’t. One I don’t enjoy it. Mostly, my energy levels were so low and apathy so high, I didn’t have it in me. Yet, with the structure of Sabbath, we know the time of rest is coming, when time is available to get things done, and again permission to power down if there are still items on the to do list.

3. I’m more ready:

Insert Spongebob reference here. Slowing down to truly observe a Sabbath period stretches the weekend out and it feels more abundant. I don’t understand how it works, but I don’t really need to. I just know I can do more in 6 days with God than 7 days without, and somehow in one day, I can feel 7-day beach vacation restored.

Sabbath & Rest

Ultimately, the practice of Sabbath counters the American culture – time being money and all. You see, we wrestle with the concerns of not being enough or doing enough to be worthy for your job or to be good enough for your classroom push and pressure into our minds leaving us exhausted and spent. The antidote to the rushed chaos of never-enough world, Sabbath with a heavenly Father excited to share a day resting together.

What does/would your Sabbath look like?