Wrangler Dani

You’re probably familiar with the idea of Sabbath, and you probably think of sitting alone in a darkened room, praying for 12 hours straight and eating something cold and boring, lest you cook and break the sabbath. Sounds fun, right? No wonder we don’t take time to practice a day of rest.

I had a niggling feeling that dark and boring reality wasn’t what God intended, but never really settled in my hand what He DID intend, so have never done much about it. When I received “Sabbath” from BookSneeze a while back, as a part of the Ancient Practices series, I was intrigued by the book title, because, like nearly everyone else in my iCrazed generation, I have a hard time unplugging, letting go and releasing a day into the care of the Creator.

I found much of the book to be thought-provoking, if not revolutionary or always practical. Allender takes pains to reveal a day meant to be spent in joy, love, sensuality, community, peace and rest – even as I write those words my inner cynicist scoffs – how can such a time even exist? I have a grocery list and a million things on my plate and a list of people who bug me rolling around my head. Am I really expected to bear-hug the world for a day? How does one even do so?

The not-so-simple answer from Allender is yes and no. The more we yearn for and work towards God’s peace and presence, the less those Earthly concerns weigh on us and the easier it is to enter into Sabbath rest. However, it’s not as though a conscious decision to quiet our minds automatically equals peace and harmony. This is only one of the many commands and difficult things God asks of us. Interestingly enough, Allender makes the case that Sabbath is hard because it is intentional, in a way that a vacation is not. We are not truly refreshed by selfishly determining to only have fun for a week once a year, but by careful evaluation of our relationships, our lives, our habits and ourselves in a way that can only be accomplished if we set down the phone, the to-do list, the expectations and just BE for a day.

On the cheerful side, I was pleasantly surprised to see the ways in which our lifestyle already lends itself to practicing the sabbath. We are very communal and intentional in our relationships, two aspects of celebration that Allender holds as essential pieces of a day of rest. I love stories, I love to cook, I love discussion, I love kicking back. The more I read, the more I got excited about practicing the sabbath with purpose, despite it’s challenges… which is weird, right? It’s almost as though God knows what we need to be happy. Hmmmm…