During the month of October, for 31 Days of Letting Go in the Deep End, I’m featuring the words of Sabbath Society Bloggers on weekend posts. I asked them to tell us what they have had to let go of in order to observe Sabbath as a routine.  Today, I’m thrilled to feature my English friends Emma Buchanan and Jane Fawkes, childhood friends who blog together at What Are Days For. Our worlds collided in London last May, one of the gifts of online friendship.

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On the superficial level I’ve let go of doing the washing on a Sunday, which means all school uniforms have to be sorted by Saturday night, or else it won’t be ready for Monday. I’ve let go of going to the shops on a Sunday (though I’ve succumbed in emergencies) and have let go of answering emails as part of my rest day.

However this is all at the superficial level. What I’ve really let go of is much deeper.

For the last few years, I had been on overdrive, always chasing the next thing, head buzzing with to-do lists and never stopping.

If I stopped, I felt guilty. My inner voice told me there was work to be done. Over the last 9 months I have learnt over time to let go of this need to always busy, to fill every moment. I’ve realised that it is in obedience, we stop.

I had always wondered about Psalm 23 where we are told that he makes me lie down in green pastures. I’d always wondered about that, and how we are made to lie down and be refreshed. Now I understand that it is in obedience, and I’m freed from guilt. I can stop and come and be refreshed both physically, and spiritually on the Sabbath.

Reflecting back, I cannot believe how much I have learnt in a year, how much I now look forward to and guard my time on the Sabbath, and how much God had enabled me to let go of guilt and to-do lists. ~Jane Fawkes

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I’ve let go of a seven day a week routine. I now have a working routine and a rest routine but the rest routine is anything but work.  It’s a day that will take you where it will, a day to embrace decedent relaxation without guilt, a day to indulge yourself as if your life depends on it because truly it does – only now that I practice stopping do I see that. ~Emma Buchanan

Want to make Sabbath a weekly rhythm and not just something you fit in to the cracks between busyness? Join the Sabbath Society, it all started here.

 

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