On my Pace of Life

Dear Friends!

I am super glad that today is a Sabbath day for me! It is so nice to take a break from the “hectic-ness” of work all the time. So surprisingly my time here in PMB is flying by. Crazy to be honest, I have one last week of classes and I have 6 Assignments left, of which only 2 are due by Friday and one is due the Monday after Halloween. I have two essays to write on Masculinity, and one Take home exam plus exams to study for. It is funny that when I tell people they ask if I am stressed out or assume that that makes me feel like everything is hectic. I guess for me I am not too worried about these things.

Perhaps the difference for me is how I pace out my life. I have for a little more than a year now been actively choosing into a Sabbath pattern of living. Basically I take one day out of every seven to not to do work. I put it aside for various reasons. I guess the two biblical reasons apply best, one being that God stopped to rest on the seventh day to enjoy his creation, and the other being that I rest because God is a god who liberates from oppressive labour, let me explain how each works out for me.

Firstly God is a god who liberates from oppressive labour rests entirely on the notion of the Exodus where the Israelites were freed from a 7-day a week, 365 (or 355 lunar year) day a year way of work. God heard their cries, and saw their oppression. For me, I wasn’t created for 7 days of work a week. Work often times at that point becomes an IDOL that is served, and that IDOL of Work is oppressive and crappy. Even in studying theology (reflecting on God and the World and all of life) I run the risk of turning my work as a student into an IDOL to worship. Basically I stop for a day to de-throne Work as an IDOL from the place of worship. In stopping from work (when I could gain 24 hours extra to be productive) to rest I necessarily need to trust in God to provide for me in the other 6 days, and because I am choosing 6 days to do work, that one day is a day to be in God’s presence.

Secondly because God as a creator stopped for a day to rest and enjoy his creation, I as well should stop to rest. So I spend the day doing things which allow me to enjoy his creation, like going to worship with a church, or sending e-mails( or writing blog posts like this). I can cook a meal and enjoy the cooking, or spend time in scripture just reading, or spend time in prayer just reflecting and enjoying God’s presence. I can hang out with friends and just enjoy my time with them, or I can take the time to go for a walk. Sabbath is a celebration day, a day of resting and enjoying with God all the things that he does. For me I Sabbath in this way and it dethrones work by building up a Sabbath of Shalom that is in service to God and therefore also worship to God.

I guess it is a beautiful liberating thing that shifts the pace of life from being hectic, and having adopted a Sabbath day I guess I start to get a Sabbath attitude towards living. To not allow myself to be worried about work and productivity. (Even though it still often happens, and I celebrate when I get to be productive but if I am not sometimes I might just need to do something different to rest and enjoy). I guess here is where I challenge my friends back at home:
Give Sabbath a Try. Take a chance to rest and break the oppressive power of work. Yes it is Mid-term month, and Yes it is essay writing season. Take a day, and Stop! Breathe and know that God is who he is. Rest and enjoy his creation, Rest and reflect on him for a full day. Give it a try and see what comes out.

Anyways Today I am resting and relaxing, tomorrow I am back to classes and paper writing but I will be refreshed and well rested. Happy weekend and I hope you have a wonderful day to rest and relax!

Cheers!