Day Seventy-Five

SABBATH

“Do your work in six days and rest on the seventh day.”

—EXODUS 34:21 CEV

Brave people take a Sabbath. It doesn’t have to look the way it looks in Jerusalem. You don’t have to avoid using a light switch from sunup to sundown, but you’ve got to take time away from the grind. Regularly.

For me, my Sabbath is Wednesday mornings (since I often work on weekends).

So Wednesdays, from when I wake up until two or three in the afternoon, I’m not available. Everybody knows it. What that means is that I have a six-hour window when I don’t use technology and I don’t do laundry and I don’t hustle.

The only things I do are rest and worship.

If it’s restful for me to get coffee with a friend, I get coffee with a friend.

If it’s restful for me to admire God’s creation at Radnor Lake, I go walk at Radnor Lake.

I read books. I read like crazy. I just read until I’m tired of reading. And then I always take a nap. Sometimes I drive down to Leiper’s Fork, Tennessee, about thirty minutes from my house, and just lay out a blanket and read for a bit there. And yes, maybe I nap there too.

It is really hard to take a day off of work, or some hours away, when I know there is a lot to be done.

It sounds awesome, and it is, but it is also really hard to take a day off of work, or some hours away, when I know there is a lot to be done.

It takes courage to walk away from your job or your calling for a bit, believing that God will still provide. But Sabbath is something we are called to—a discipline that will make our lives better if we embrace it.

Friend, you and I? We can’t let the fear of missing out (or FOMO, as the kids call it these days) on an amazing opportunity to win.

We need Sabbath. We need rest. We need people. We need friendship.

Brave friends, please choose to have a Sabbath. Unplug. Give yourself a break. Say yes to rest and yes to relationships, even if you’re saying, “Hold on a sec” to your job or your calling.

BE BRAVE: Grab the book Garden City by John Mark Comer. It’s a great read and has really helpful information about Sabbath.