Sabbath

Sorry. Keeping up with this is still a habit I am developing. Been sooo busy!

Anyways- Happy sabbath:) Couldn't be a better one! This weather makes me (and I think everyone else!) a better person. It may be the season of lent, but the new life emerging around me in colors and sounds, smells and beauty has me feeling like today is Resurrection Sunday! I love Spring!!!

I wish I could sit and write something new, but my sister is in town and I'd rather spend some time with her! And because it is the sabbath today, I remembered something I wrote for a retreat this past fall. Still convicts me when I read it. Hope you enjoy it and that it leads you to a closeness with the Holy Spirit this day...

Silence. Rest. Sabbath.

Television. Facebook. Internet. Phone calls. Text messages. Email. Video Games. Magazines. Movies. School. Homework. Practice. Games. Family. Friends. Church. Babysitting. Work. Events. Chores. Sleep.

Our everyday is crowded, and at times can be overwhelming. Technology has now given us an extra dimension to the chaos of it all. We have the ability to be plugged in and connected to the world (or just our little world) within five seconds and in about sixty different ways. So now, if we’re not plugged in and communicating with the world at all times, it seems like such a waste of time. Our generation doesn’t look at social networking as a function but as how we define ourselves. As Christians, we should see a problem in that. We have been swept up into this culture without realizing that it goes against the Christian culture. By constantly being in tune with everyone and everything around us, we push God aside. We are putting God, the Creator of the Universe, in competition with television.

So we say we’re stressed out, stretched thin and split, and our hope is supposed to be that one day it will all be over and peaceful in heaven? I have to wait til I die? No. Our hope as followers of Christ is not that it will all be better one day, but that today is that day. Salvation isn’t a ticket to heaven. Jesus came to save us now: body, mind, soul, heart. (Luke 10:25-28) And that is why we have a Sabbath.

After we do work six days (jobs, events, school, responsibilities, etc) we are created to take a day off. We’re human. Not machines. Not gods. We come from the dust. We physically and spiritually need that literal Sabbath day. But that literal day doesn’t mean take a nap and vegetate. Sabbath is a state of mind everyday when we realize that we are not what everything is all about. Nothing is on our shoulders. But it’s also realizing that we are on a first name basis with the Creator, the Love, the Truth. And it gives us the time to work on our deepest feelings and thoughts, our problems. Sabbath is stopping and resting and being in silence.

Right now, I am sitting outside in the glory of God’s creation. The tops of the trees are glowing. The wind is moving the neighbors’ chimes. The water is sparkling as it trickles over the spillway. I can hear the rustling of every leaf as it moves in unison with the others. The birds are chirping lightly and soar by every few moments. It’s silent. I have a million things to do, but somehow, listening to the sounds of it all, I am at rest. Every breeze that blows by feels like a breath from God seeping into the deepest part of my soul. I can’t help but notice sounds and colors and smells without thinking how profoundly sad it must be for someone who is missing this. But then again, how many times have I missed this? And probably because I was running from one thing to the next, texting, talking, listening to music, all while grabbing a cup of coffee so I could do it even faster. We are created to work, but not to overwork, not to overschedule, overplan, or overcommunicate. Don’t let yourself be caught up in the world’s chaos when you have the Savior of the World even closer to you than your phone or computer. He is it. He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is Love. Let Him be that to you. Let your soul find rest, find silence, find Sabbath.

GRACE

Come Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet,
Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! I'm fixed upon it,
Mount of God's unchanging love.

Here I raise mine Ebenezer;
Hither by Thy help I'm come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be
Let that grace now like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here's my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.

I admit, I haven't been a hymn fan the past several years, but they have come back into my life in the past 8 months. And although the musical style hasn't grown on me, I'm falling in love with the lyrics. They have a richness that I had forgotten about- and not only in the actual poetic words. Just think, this song (along with hundreds of others) has stood the test of time. A man penned these words in 1757, and since then, groups of believers have worshiped through them together, finding meaning and redemption. I too find meaning and redemption in those words. But I also feel a connection. It's as if I'm singing it along with them 200+ years ago. I know by those lyrics that I am not alone in my struggles and journey in this life.

And that last stanza is probably one of my favorite quotes of all time.

It focuses on what I have constantly been meditating on recently: grace.

I have always found that to be the most difficult aspect of my personal walk with Christ. We live in such a culture that is hounded by works and worthiness, pushing ourselves past our limits to strive for a far fetched goal. And it has (by no doubt in my mind and experience) translated into my faith. To quote another song, "When all the Love in the world is right here among us... I don't know what to do with a Love like that." Perfectly and beautifully honest isn't it? I can't comprehend the Spirit's unending stream of grace. I just can't. But I'll take it!

Right now, I'm actually sitting outside on my back porch by the lake. I've sat here since I was 13, and it's my favorite spot to spend time just thinking and reflecting. Again, I feel connected. This time, to my 13 year old self. I can feel it washing over me as I breathe in this moment. Only grace allows me to look at my life thus far and feel peace. Grace allows me to laugh, sing, love, cry, feel, think, learn, grow and dream.

Yet, I can't begin to name all the areas in my life that still need to be touched by grace. How painful it is to think that I forget the crux of it all too often.
But today I don't forget.
Today... I'm swimming in it.

Numero Uno.

Yeah, I started a blog. Time to join this century? Haha, I don’t know. It was completely on impulse one night when I made this! Then, by the time I was done just getting everything set up, I was too tired to begin to actually write. Which says a lot because I love writing. It’s as though I enter a whole other realm in my mind when I begin to write. I have all of these thoughts and feelings and ideas that seem disconnected and fuzzy. But then, give me a pen and paper (or blank computer screen), and everything floating around becomes grounded, organized, clear.

I guess I’ll use this as a means of simple expression of whatever is pressing at my heart at the moment. I presently have a lot going on (not that that is a change). But right now is a very important, even crucial time in my life, I believe. I have taken off January to August to really explore the deepest corners of my soul. To heal. To find purpose and direction, and then go with it. I admit that it’s already March and I have done a splendid job avoiding many things. But I needed to get a job and regular steady schedule, worry about the basic issues so I could go to the deeper ones. This is only my third week of routine, and I’m ready. It’s going to be quite a roller coaster journey, but heck, it’d be boring if it wasn’t!

So... Here’s to life. Here’s to refusing to stand by and let it pass any longer. Here’s to living, breathing, learning, experiencing, and loving it. I want to find beauty in every second. I desire so much to have the God of the universe reach down and touch my eyes, my heart, my mind and body, and save me. For that is what this Christian walk is about. It isn’t a ticket to heaven, or list of do’s and don’ts. It’s the freedom to truly live in tune with who we were intended to be. That’s my goal. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27, TNIV) It’s a verse we’ve heard a thousand times if we’ve grown up in the Church. But have we believed it for right now? Christ came to save EVERYTHING. When He came, everything changed. And when we choose to become His disciple, everything in our life should change. You name it- God has a holy plan for it. Everything is spiritual. In the time the New Testament was written, there was no differentiation in labeling parts of life “spiritual” and other parts “secular”. To Jesus and His disciples, it was all God’s. That is what I desire to live my life by. A radical surrender of everything, so that I can live in harmony with The One Thing that matters.

It will definitely take time. More than just these next 7 months. More than a lifetime on Earth. But starting now will make a world of difference. My encouragement to whoever is reading this, is to not wait. Not even to finish reading this sentence. Give into Freedom. Let the power of the Spirit enter every facet of your life. LIVE TODAY!

Well, I'm off to work! Happy Fridayyy:)

Spread the Love,
Emily