“in proportion to its list”
I’m in a list season at the moment. I often do this. I feel like I’m behind the eight ball so I try to get organized. I make list upon list upon list of things that need done and for a time it helps tremendously. I get uber productive and accomplish many things. But then things start to slip and the list becomes my angry task master demanding, “More!” I go from being the master of the list to being its slave. If I’m unable to accomplish all the things on my list, it beats me and make me feel inferior. I begin to place my worth on how many things I crossed off my list today rather than the Word of God. If I got all my list accomplished then I was a “good girl” today and I can have a treat.
Ahhhh… but, if I only got one thing done, well, obviously I didn’t do a very good job today. I know there’s somebody out there vigorously nodding their head in agreement with me because they know exactly what I’m talking about. If that’s not you, well, lucky you. Will you email me and tell me how you do it?
Seriously. Any tips? Leave a comment below!
This past Sabbath I had a mission. Finish the blanket I’ve been working on. [I’m hoping to have instructions and pictures up tomorrow… but we’ll have to see how many fits my computer decides to throw before then.] I usually crochet on my Sabbaths, it’s kind of my meditation. Right now I’m doing a granny square blanket so it’s a constant, “1, 2, 3, chain… 1, 2, 3, chain… 1, 2, 3, chain…” It’s almost hypnotic. While crocheting I sit and catch up on my recorded shows. By the end of the day I am so relaxed I feel like butter and its HEAVEN!!!
Well, on this particular Sabbath I kept thinking of all the other things I had on my to do list. “The laundry needs folding and put away,” “the dishwasher needs emptied and filled again,” “the trash needs taken out.” And every time I would counter it with, “No. I’m crocheting today.” But they still kept coming, “the email needs answered,” “the kitchen table needs cleaned,” “the floor needs vacuumed,” “those papers need filled out.” “No! I’m crocheting today!” Each time the Nag got more and more insistent that I do something on my list rather than the one thing I needed most, REST.
Our culture so values productivity, and who can blame us? It feels GOOD to finish things and accomplish goals. I mean, it’s part of our human DNA. Adam was created and given… a job. He was given something to occupy his hands, time and talents. He was given a purpose. And just like Adam we have purpose too. It gives life meaning and enjoyment.
BUT
There has to be a balance too. Adam was created on the sixth day. On the seventh, God rested from ALL His work declaring the seventh day holy. A Sabbath. A day of rest from work. God ended His week with rest. But Adam started His week with rest!
They have scientifically proven that stress makes you sick. Well, a weekly Sabbath (also known as a Pajama Day) where you’re not allowed to leave the house, clean or work. But watch TV and movies, well, that’s a prescription for health!
Resting one day every week is NOT being lazy. Even when the accuser tries to get you to think it is. Taking a day off every week is taking care of your mind, body and soul. Hmmm… right now I can hear someone out there saying, “I don’t have time to take 2 hours off, let alone 24! I can’t afford to do that!”
My friend, you can’t afford not to!
We spend all our health trying to earn more money only to use that money to try to buy back our health! Except you can’t! A Sabbath rest does WONDERS, trust me! The revelations God has given me on these days is beyond compare, not to mention I am rarely ever sick.
Here’s one way to think about it:
A mom and her small child get in an airplane. There’s trouble and the cabin pressure changes to the point that the oxygen masks are needed. The mom’s first motherly instinct is to put the mask on her child first before putting on hers. Except in the time it takes to put her child’s mask on she passes out from low oxygen and now there is no one to help her child.
God has called YOU to help someone by doing something. However, if you’re not first helping yourself by caring for your temple, then there will be no one to help the people you were supposed to help. Because you’ve exhausted yourself to the point of being helpless yourself.
You’re not being lazy if you take one day off from work. You’re being MORE productive in that one day off than the other six combined! You know how? Because in that Sabbath day of rest you’re letting GOD do the work for you. And He’s more effective than you ever could be! I mean, He did make the entire universe in just six days. Can you do that?
Tamar Knochel 
My Sabbath or Pajama Day or Fasting Day is on Mondays. It’s hard sometimes You have to prepare ahead if time for it. Just like the Israelites did while in the wilderness. They had to gather enough Manna for their Sabbath. 3 hours of Church doesn’t cut it. The more I reach out for God the more time He somehow finds for me to have.
Sent from my iPhone