You have permission to rest!
By Reverend Lindsay Turnbull of Hamilton Trinity Parish Church
When I head into my study, my eye catches a small picture pinned on the end of a bookcase which says ‘you have permission to rest, you are not responsible for fixing everything that is broken. You do not need to make everyone happy. For now take time for you. It’s time to replenish.’
And I think ‘yes I’ll do that. I’ll take time to relax. I’ll take time to reflect. I’ll take time to refresh’. But often by the time I’ve got to my desk these words and thoughts have evaporated like steam from a kettle as I look at my ‘to-do’ list and plan my day. And I know I’m not alone in that. For we live in a 24/7 world.
Our lives can be so busy with work, school, family and other commitments that we often don’t take time to rest or reflect. And my mind turns to the times I spent working in Jerusalem and what a Saturday, Shabbat the Jewish Sabbath, was like. Completely different from a Sunday here, the Christian Sabbath.
Yes some things are the same; people go to the synagogue and people spend time with their friends and families, but there is a sense of peace as people abandon their normal working day routine to recharge, reflect and refocus as they practice the God-given gift of rest.
A gift and practice that most of the western world has discarded and should really recover. For it’s in practicing this gift of Sabbath rest, whatever day of the week it is, we find our balance and can become agents of transformation.
No matter who we are, we need Sabbath for ourselves and for our world.