People have asked me, how is it going? How is your Sabbatical time treating you? Are you going nuts not officially working? Well, I have to say though there have been several rocky moments of "oh my goodness, I can't do this. I need to work!" most of all it has been wonderful. Oklahoma City hasn't killed me yet either . . . I am breathing in deeply, deeper than I have in years on the plains. I am learning much about myself, God and what spiritual practice is all over again. I am loving spending more time with my husband.
I've been collecting quotes and thoughts of mine as I think of them and posting them on twitter. I thought I'd share them as a litany here.
“Sabbath is about the refusal to let one’s life be defined by production and consumption” ― Walter Brueggemann
Life is not about what you do. It is about who you are.
It is hard to be silent. It is very very hard. But I want to try it. I want to really do Sabbath.
Sabbath means your life is more private. That's ok. The good reflections and insights often come when you are quiet and alone.
Sabbath is breathing deeply into all will be well, all matter of things will be well. (Thanks, Julia for this).
When partaking of Sabbath time, days on calendar don't matter and sometimes you book a flight for the wrong week and have to stand in line for hours to change your ticket. Oh, well.
Sabbath doesn't change who we are. It reminds us whose we are.
Sabbath is not bring afraid of being alone. You can be alone and not lonely.
“If busyness can become a kind of violence, we do not have to stretch our perception far to see Sabbath can invite a healing" -Wayne Muller
Sabbath is thinking you are writing for fun and drafting out a new chapter for your book long project. Inspiration finds you when you least expect. Productivity is not something to be worried about. It comes in its own time.
A gift of Sabbath is contentment. I don't know the future but don't have to.
God gives us everything we need as we rest.
We can not know God unless we know ourselves. In sitting with ourself long enough to listen, we hear God.
"Caught up in our own busyness running from one crisis to next looks less like loving God and more like trying to become one" - Phileena Heuertz
Sabbath is good. It is really good for the soul.
