Our Saturday

 

So we spent the morning cleaning the yard and working in the garden.  Jason has the garden ready to plant.  Cora worked with me and we cleaned up three large garbage bags of “winter trash” from the yard.  (Winter trash is frustrating because most of it is not our trash; it’s trash that has blown in or been dropped in our yard over the winter months.)

 

The deal was (with the kids) that we would work until noon and then go to the dam.  They worked hard right up until the end when they were wore out.  And hot.  And hungry.  While Jason did the final tilling, the kids helped me gather things for the afternoon.  Jason attempted to catch a fish.  He didn’t get one.  We ate a cold lunch by the bus and I snapped some pictures.

 

When we got home, we had spaghetti for supper.

 

 

Mr. Matty loves spaghetti.

 

All in all, a beautiful, productive and fun day.

 

Now I plan to take my lobster arms to bed and hope they aren’t quite so red in the morning.

 

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Learning about being intentional

 I'm learning that if you want to make changes you really have to be deliberate about it.  I'm not being deliberate about what I want Saturdays to be for us.  I've had a couple of crazy busy weeks and I haven't used  my Fridays to the best of my advantage to set up and prepare for Saturday being a day of rest, a weekly sabbath.

My starting point for being intentional about Saturdays needs to be Friday afternoon.  Friday afternoon I need to get chores done, hot spots cleared, meals for the whole day prepped and cooked if possible.  I need to make sure everyone has the clothing they need for a couple of days.  I need the kitchen to be in shape.  Basically I need to do an extra days' work, so that I can come out ahead on Sunday.

Is that the focus of Friday?  Absolutely not.  The focus for Friday is preparing for a Special Guest.  I am preparing my home, my family and my heart for a day spent together, with one another, and with God.  I want my house to be tidy, clean, and ready for an appointed time spent with God.

My plan for meals is to make Friday night supper special, including a dessert.  Saturday breakfast I have not figured out yet.  At this point, I've been doing pancakes, but that requires me cooking, when I don't want to cook on Saturday.  Lunch can easily be sandwiches, or left overs.  Saturday supper will be a crock pot meal, that I just have to turn on Saturday morning.

 When I was speaking with my friend about this topic, she said that even though I'm not where I want to be, identifying the problem areas is half the battle.  And that's the truth.  So in the coming weeks, I plan to be intentional about keeping Friday and Saturday as clear of extras as I possibly can.

This last week (yesterday) I sat with the children at the table for Saturday supper (that doesn't always happen).  I asked them to tell me something they were thankful for.  I got a variety of responses.  I wouldn't let them say, "everything" or something vague.  I got "Christmas", "food", "my birthday", "the Wii", "fresh buns".  I plan to ask this question regularly.


Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Joy in the Sabbath

 

"If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath,
   from doing your pleasure on my holy day,
and call the Sabbath a delight
   and the holy day of the LORD honorable;
if you honor it, not going your own ways,
   or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly;

then you shall take delight in the LORD,
and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth;
I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father,
for the mouth of the LORD has spoken."

 

Isaiah 58:13, 14, ESV

Still diggin',

Saturday’s Special Moments

I have been trying to keep Saturday media free unless we are doing something as a family – all playing the Wii together, watching a movie as a family, listening to music.  So we have been finding new ways to entertain ourselves.

First, most Saturday mornings I make pancakes.

 

Can you sense their anticipation?

 

 

It really was a mighty stack of pan-a-cakes!

 

 

Then because they were a sticky mess, Kristyn hopped in the shower with the little guys to get them cleaned up; once they got out she asked me to put buns in her hair so it will be curly for church on Sunday morning.  Isn’t she gorgeous??

 

Kristyn, age 9

And then we made forts in the living room taking all the chairs from the table and the ones from the living room and covering them with our “wedding quilt” made for Jason and I by one of his aunts. Kristyn made a smaller fort under my bedroom stairs.  There was lots of book reading and pretend play.  We have a number of not-in-use cell phones from years past.  Those were a hit and many conversations were had with Grandma Johnny and Dora and Diego.  Doc was not to be left out and quickly found a home in Kristyn’s little house.

Daddy missed out on all the fun because his job required him to make a quick trip to Grande Prairie to pick up a truck.  (I don’t think that’s ever a quick trip.)  Maybe next week.  He was thankfully home for our Saturday supper of potato soup and apple crisp, two of his favorite dishes.

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Sabbath Ancient Practices by Dan B. Allender–A Review

This book is a slightly warm, gooey chocolate fudge brownie, fresh from the oven, served with steaming hot coffee on the deck midafternoon on a cool fall day.  For those of my readers who don’t like chocolate or coffee, I don’t know how to describe this book for you.  I’m sorry.

 

I have been reading on this topic for a number of months and seem to be gobbling up the information like I would the brownie and coffee mentioned above.

 

I would give you some quotes from the book, but I don’t know where to begin or where to end and I would probably share the whole book with you and I know that’s not allowed.  You will just have to read it for yourselves.

 

In the book I learned what a treasure keeping the Sabbath really is for the Christian today.  Did you know that keeping the Sabbath is a command, just like not murdering, not lying, not coveting?  In today’s world, we who call ourselves Christians do not keep the Sabbath.  There is not rest, no openness, no communion with our Creator.  How do we keep the Sabbath around here?  It’s a day to watch TV, not do the laundry, work or not work; for us, there is no real distinction between Monday, Friday or Sunday.

 

One thing I was looking for was a detailed study of whether or not the weekly Sabbath is sundown to sundown on Friday to Saturday or whether we are allowed to choose what day we celebrate the Sabbath.  My growing conviction is that the weekly Sabbath needs to be practiced or celebrated on Saturday.  Sunday’s worship service and fellowship then becomes another weekly meeting that we attend with our fellow believers. This book does not give clear guidance on this matter, but the Saturday Sabbath is definitely alluded to throughout the content.

 

So that’s what I did not find in this book.  What did I find while reading this book?  I learned that Sabbath is a day of play, a day of prayer, a day of building relationship with our Abba Father, of building relationship with each other.  I learned that Sabbath is not all about stoicism and silence and Bible reading (although silence and Bible study are important parts of Sabbath).  I learned it is not a day of legalism.  Sabbath is a day of freedom.

 

While writing this review, I came up with a non-chocolate, non-coffee description of this book.  It’s like Little Hotties at a fire-less sledding party.

 

Disclaimer: I was given a copy of this book by the publisher in exchange for my honest review!

 

Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Sabbath: Happiness

Well, over the Christmas holidays we got a little bit away from the minimal Sabbath practices I had started for our family.  I am hoping that blogging about the remainder of the book by Wayne Muller that I can jog my memory and my actions.  Christmas fell on Saturday this year and so I didn’t serve our soup and crisp.  I’m hoping to pick that up again on the first of January.

 

Now on to the section called Happiness.

 

There are many verses in the Bible that talk about having joy and happiness.  God doesn’t want His people to be glum.  However, happiness takes time.  This comes from page 124:

Happiness grows only in the sweet soil of time.  As our time is eaten away by speed and overwork, we are less available to be surprised  by joy, a sunset, a kind word,an unplanned game of tag with a child,a warm loaf of bread from the oven.  But for all our striving and accomplishment, our underlying need for happiness does not withdraw and disappear.  So we pursue happiness on the run, trying to make our lives more and more efficient, squeezing every task into tighter increments, hoping to somehow “get” our happiness when we are able to fit it in.

and from page 126:

The more hurried and rushed we are, the more we are willing to trade happiness for desire – and, over time, the less we are able to discern the difference between the two.

 

I loved the chapter on happiness.  I loved the suggestions of ways to stop and feel and be.  Take time to be thankful.  Go window shopping and just enjoy the pretty and expensive things you see.  Create a morning ritual – like reading  in bed in the morning.  Take off your shoes and just feel, really feel, the ground.  These are  things to add to my Sabbath list.  I love it.

 

Still diggin',

Sabbath: Finding Time

Wow, it’s been a while since I posted on this blog.

 

The next section of Sabbath by Wayne Muller, I’m just going to share some quotes that I enjoyed.

All these “lost” values are human qualities that require time.  Honesty, courage, kindness,civility, wisdom, compassion – these can only be nourished in the soil of time and attention and need experience and practice to come to harvest. – page 98

Good citizenship requires time to listen to the fears and dreams of our neighbors, to care for our poor and hungry, to build and run good wholesome schools and hospitals.  Mark the steady decline in party membership, voter tallies, attendance at public meetings and school boards. – page 100

Finally, in the 1960s and 1970s mass amusements – notably television – began their domination of leisure time.  Passive culture consumption began to replace traditional activities.  Time for family, loved ones and community activities was no longer perceived as being as valuable as what one could buy with money.  - page 106

 

This next passage really hit me in light of the oil spill in the US. 

“Yet every time someone gets cancer, the G.D.P. goes up.  Every time an infant dies, the G.D.P. rises.  A drive-by shooting improves the economy by $20,750.  If the victim dies, and there is a murder trial, the benefit to the economy leaps to well over $100,000.  An oil tanker spill can contribute between five and twenty million dollars of “growth”; the benefits of an airline crash or terrorist bombing can be far greater.” – page 111

“A true marriage of money and time honors the value of both.  Both time and money are essential commodities for building a just and healthy world.  But during Sabbath, we specifically honor those precious things – courage, creativity, wisdom, peace, kindness, and delight – that grow only in the soil of time.” – page 116

So we have to make time for each other, to play, to teach, to just be together.  I am finding that as many of us enter this busy time of year surrounding Christmas that this is becoming more and more important to me.  I really want to carve out time for my family and for our close friends.

How does this work into my family’s Sabbath?  I’m gonna play games with the kids!  I’ll color with them.  I’ll read to them.  I’ll take the time to teach them virtues and precepts in Scripture.

 

Still diggin',

Finding Sabbath in the Chaos

I haven’t quite figured out how to manage my brood smoothly yet.  With the addition of Matthias in August of this year, he threw a monkey wrench into my system.  Well, actually for about 6 weeks before his birth, he started affecting my routine and system.  And I don’t hold that against him at all.  He is a very welcome blessing that we love dearly.  But he does add a new element to creating a smooth running household and finding Sabbath in our home.

 

Tonight Sabbath seemed really rough, and it’s still not over at the time of this writing as I find myself interrupted again to go and tend to a beautiful blessing.

 

I’ve had to get creative with my Sabbath time.  I’ve taken the little moments today – the moments when sitting and nursing the baby are used to bless each child around me, the moments in the kitchen alone were taken to just be silent while the world above me carried on at a seemingly frenzied pace.

 

In today’s society, we don’t truly take time for Sabbath.  My house is no different at this point.  I am alone in my quest for rest, or so it seems at times.  I take what I can get and I create what I am able.  I pray for God to guide me to the next step.

 

I’m finding it hard to give up my “crutches”.  We live in such an entertainment based world.  The TV is always on.  The computer.  The cell phone.  The radio.  Even games and books.  There never seems to be a time when there is silence around me.  Today the computer has been on, but I really haven’t been active on this machine much today.  My brother was, and I am writing this post.  I wanted to get the thoughts “on paper” before I lost them.

 

I can’t rush into them but some other ideas I have for our Sabbath time include: reading aloud to each other, playing a board or card game together, making our supper meal together if needed, having friends over in the afternoon.  But the chaos needs to settle.  We need to find our Sabbath rhythm.

 

Still diggin',

My thoughts on creating our Sabbath time

Okay, just getting some thoughts down “on paper” as I slowly create our Sabbath time.  Things I want to include and things I want us to do, things we are already doing.

 

I’m finding that mid-afternoon on Saturday to mid-afternoon on Sunday is working well.  (about 3pm)

 

I want to have a special supper on Saturday night.  My husband LOVES apple crisp and apple pie.  He has stated that he wished I would make it more.  So.  I plan to make either a crisp or a pie for Saturday supper.  Last night was beautiful.  The soup that I made went over really well too.  It was Baked Potato Soup.  (Note it says 5 POUNDS of potatoes, and serves 12 and I had to thicken with cornstarch.)  So my plan for supper is a crock pot soup / stew with buns and dessert.

 

We will attempt (and we often do) going to church each week.  I believe that fellowshipping and worshipping with our fellow believers and community members is an important part of a Sabbath day.

 

I plan to keep my computer off for a good a lot of the time on our Sabbath day.

 

The other thing is that I’m not going to be forceful with my family with these Sabbath day things.  I’m just going to make them happen as I can and not stress about it.  Stress is not a Sabbath activity.  I’ll answer the children’s questions as they come up.  Teach during the teachable moments.  I need to make these Sabbath day things easy or my family will fight me on them.  I need to make them enjoyable so that they are fun and happy.

 

There are so many ideas in this book I’m reading: Sabbath by Wayne Muller.  I’m reading it along with the Bloom Book Club.  The ideas I listed above are where I’m at.  Where I am headed is saved for another day, as I work things out.

 

Still diggin',

Finding Rest – learning about Sabbath.

So in continuing my study on the Sabbath I am joining up with a book club called Bloom Book Club.  We are reading a book called Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives  by Wayne Muller.  The first section is about finding rest through Sabbath.

 

If we do not rest, we run out of steam.  In our busy world, we equate rest with failure.  We do not give ourselves permission to rest, but God commanded it.  We have guilt and shame when resting but we need to let that go.  Through the fourth commandment, God gives us permission; we were commanded to stop.  If we don’t, we get sick, or have an accident.  In our busy world, God allows things to happen that force us into Sabbath and changes our world.  I want to come to a practice of Sabbath before something “bad” or serious happens to me or to my family that forces a Sabbath upon us.

 

Find joy in resting.  There are many places in the Bible that tells us about Jesus resting.  Matthew 14:23, Luke 5:15-16 and Mark 1:32-33, 35-36 are just a few of the verses mentioned specifically in Sabbath.  I love the following quote from page 25:

Jesus did not wait until everyone had been properly cared for, until all who sought him were healed.  He did not ask for permission to go, nor did he leave anyone behind “on call”, or even let his disciples know where he was going.  Jesus obeyed a deeper rhythm.  When the moment for rest had com, the time for healing was over.  He would simply stop, retire to a quiet place, and pray.

 

I can see how easy it is going to be to become legalistic about the Sabbath in our lives.  There is such a fine balance between legalism and nonchalant.  I don’t want my Sabbath time to be dreary and no fun.  I want it to be a time of refreshing and joy and I don’t think that can happen if too many rules are imposed on that time.

¹³ “ If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
      From doing your pleasure on My holy day,
      And call the Sabbath a delight,
      The holy day of the LORD honorable,
      And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
      Nor finding your own pleasure,
      Nor speaking your own words,
       ¹⁴ Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD;
      And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
      And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
      The mouth of the LORD has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:13-14, New King James Version)

 

Oh, I loved this too:  “Until the Sabbath, creation was unfinished.” (page 37)  The Sabbath becomes the end and the beginning of our week, for instance.  It’s a new beginning.  A time of rest, just like sleep, then when we wake, we are beginning a new day.  The Sabbath is the same.

 

It is good.  “Our willingness to rest depends on what we believe we will find there.” (page 40)  Do we believe that resting is good?  God sat back and looked at His work and said it was good.  I’m guessing, that if He blessed the Sabbath that it is considered good too.  Right?  So, why do we resist it so much?  Or do we really?  I think there is something in all of us that begs to rest.  I want to embrace that blessing – the blessing of the Sabbath.

 

Some Sabbath practice suggestions:

• light candles – these can signify the beginning of the Sabbath day / time.
• create specific time and space – “choose at least one heavily used appliance or device . . . and let them rest for a Sabbath period.”(page 27)
• a Sabbath meal – My friends start and end their Sabbath day with a special meal!  I love to hear her talk about it.  She said that even her children miss their Sabbath meals if they happen to be away from home at the time.  And in speaking with their oldest son (11) he confirmed this.  I want that joy I see in them.  She said that at first it was really tough to be ready and to have everything done, but now it is such a routine that they really look forward to each Friday evening.  If you could read her Facebook statuses, you would see and hear that as well!
• begin again – “Choose one common act during your day to serve as a Sabbath pause.” (page 39)  I think this one is rather strange, but I have started to take times to just pause and I am finding that it serves as a “soft reset” to my day.  Even just the act of taking a deep breath can refocus a person.
• blessings – My friend, who I mentioned earlier, has also mentioned that they have a time of blessing at their Friday evening meal.  The author mentions something called “guerrilla blessing” which is silently blessing those around us – in the bank or grocery store, or in traffic around us.

 

I have a little more reading to do on the section of REST, and the next section is RHYTHM.

Still diggin',

Mom-iversity – Sabbath Study – Week 3

“Don’t let the DAY become more important than the INTENT.” from A Walk With The Lord.

By INTENT, I do not have a Sabbath in my week.  I know that needs to change.  I need to live intentionally, and not by accident.  A lot of my day to day activities are random and “accidental”.  I’ve been working at changing that over  the last year or so.  And I believe that my hunt for what a Sabbath truly is has stemmed from that desire to be more intentional.

In the Bible and today, a Sabbath is a day for not working.  I don’t work outside the home but I certainly work a lot!  So, what would my Sabbath look like?  I would choose to cook very little.  I would not do laundry.  I would do the very basics.  In order to pull this off, I will have to be very intentional and productive through out the rest of the week.

Another thing I keep hearing and reading, but haven’t seen the verses for is: Don’t do the ordinary things.  Well what would be ordinary for me to do day to day?  Computer stuff.  I would have to give up my computer time and replace it with something.  What would I replace that time with on “a day of rest in the Lord?” (another phrase I keep hearing.)  Bible stuff, reading, prayer, singing.  Family time.  Nature walk (until it gets really cold), time at the park.

Is the Sabbath a day to do things we enjoy doing?  I haven’t come to a complete decision on this yet.  I think we should do things that we enjoy doing on the Sabbath.  To me, that would be restful, and renewing and would certainly put me in a better frame of mind to worship my Savior and Lord.

Slowly, my Sabbath is developing.

Mom-iversity – Sabbath Study – Week 2

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Striving to learn and live God's purposes,

Mom-iversity – Sabbath Study: Week 1

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Striving to learn and live God's purposes,