Wrangler Dani

Last year, Adam and I set a goal to hike 365 miles in 2014. It seemed very do-able when we were living in a two-bedroom apartment with free weekends to hike – it became a lot less do-able when we became home-owners in March, a title that was quickly followed by pet-owners, expectant adoptive parents and house-project-doers. Needless to say, we didn’t come close to hiking 365 miles last year.

So this year, being lovers of goals and ambition, Adam and I wondered what the next goal should be. Of course, we set ones for ourselves individually, for our family and our home, sensible goals like “adopt a baby” and “figure out what to do with our ugly fireplace”. But we wanted a goal that we could accomplish together and grow in together, and after a very exhilarating but exhausting 2014, we knew 2015 needed to be different – not completely, but in a few serious ways.

Thus was born our goal for 2015: Sabbath.

The idea is simple – take one day, out of each week, to truly rest. No home-ownery projects, no career work, no chores unless absolutely necessary. If possible, we want to spend Sabbath together (hiking, watching TV, making fajitas, you name it) and we want to go to church. That’s it.

Sounds simple – even easy, right?

Let me tell you, despite a world that constantly tells me to take what *I* deserve, to treat myself (what’s the line? “Because you’re worth it”) our culture actually hates the idea of Sabbath. An indulgent, expensive pampering day is one thing, but a simple time-out from the barrage of to-dos and expectations is very counter-cultural. Time spent at church, with my husband and taking my dog for a hike is one thing, but blocking off an entire day for such slowness is something else.

We don’t like to slow down and we don’t like the parameters of a Sabbath day. We’d like a Sabbath hour, maybe, or a Sabbath vacation once in a while, but a full day once a week is hard to stomach. I can only say all this because I know it to be true – if we talk about our goal with others we get questioning looks and even protestations – “that would never work for me” – people say. I can tell you that it is MUCH harder than we thought it would be – hard to be intentional with our time, hard to plan ahead and take that full day of rest, hard to silence the critical voices in our heads, telling us to get something done already.

But you know, I’m starting to realize that maybe that’s why God gave us a Sabbath, and why we felt so drawn to practice it this year: because we can’t do it all, and “getting something done” isn’t as important as we think it is.

Maybe God uses Sabbath as a way to remind us that only he makes all things new. Maybe our Sabbath time is an act of faith, that our relationships mean more than our accomplishments. Maybe Sabbath gives us a chance to stop striving and acknowledge that we aren’t actually in charge of our destinies, that one more day of work isn’t going to give us the control we long for.

Sabbath is a fitting word for 2015, and good goal. I don’t want to miss this year because I failed to look carefully enough, because I didn’t take time to notice the beauty around me. Work resumed on this Monday morning and we plunge in with vigor and hope, not because we have to keep running out of fear, but because our glimpse of rest makes us energized, grateful, humble people.