The art of rest

We're poor artists. I don't mean with paint or pencil. {Although there is no great skill there either.}

I'm thinking of rest, not just I'm sick and tired, but worship rest. Sabbath rest.

Sabbath rest is an art. Like all worship. God focus is cultivated, developed, much like a sculpture or a garden. A work of beauty through patient endurance. Not a result of chemical reaction.

That's what I want it to be. Add this. Take away that. Voila. You have officially Sabbathed. Check it off and move on.

There is no recipe, no reaction to follow. Teachers of the Law spent thousands if years creating rules for the Sabbath reaction, only to have Jesus point out its flaws over and over.

Because worship rest isn't about what we're doing.

Worship rest isn't about what we're not doing.

I can sweat in the garden to God's glory or to my frustration.

Worship rest is about the heart.

A heart that trusts, thanks, waits. Psalm 52:9

I cannot practice trust, thanks, wait when I'm reciting my to do list. Or when I'm forcing my body to sit while my mind ranges the hills of my frustrations and failures.

Trust, thanks, wait. A mental posture of resting. Worship through God-reliance, God-praise, God-faith.

We're new to this sabbathing. Keep looking at each other and asking, wait, can we do that? What does sabbath mean for our family?

We're not practiced in worship rest. So the last months have been fumbling attempts to honor the Sabbath and keep it holy. Not fill it with our own agenda, agenda to work or agenda not to work.

We are poor artists, learning the craft of worship rest. Trusting that the rest is important or God would not have gifted it. Thanking him for this challenging gift, for the hard work of resting. Waiting to see him glorified in our worship, to catch a glimpse of his ever-presence.

Trust, thanks, wait.

To read a more practiced artist, check out 24/6 by Michael Sleeth.

The Rest of God by Mark Buchanan and Sabbath by Wayne Muller are on my 'to read' list. {feel free to beat me to the punch and tell me what you think.}