shabbat

Last week, I went on vacation. It was truly a vacation. No to-do lists. No phone calls or e-mail messages to return. No responsibilities. Not even sight-seeing. I was more interested in complete shabbat.

What can I learn from taking three hour-naps each day, rising early to watch my daughter chase seagulls by the ocean, and reading books on the balcony, by the pool, or on the beach? I'm tempted to want to stay there and never come home.

But what I did learn is this: I was reminded of a sermon given by Tim Keller, my pastor at Redeemer Presbyterian Church in NYC when I was a student at NYU. He reminded his listeners that Sabbath is a command. That means we're to take it as seriously as being faithful to our partners, honoring our parents, loving our neighbors. If we don't, we sin.

Keller wasn't saying "this is sin, otherwise" to laud it over the workaholics among us (myself included). Rather, he was reminding us about the point of rest, Sabbath, shabbat: to encounter God and be reminded of who we are in Christ. When we get that -- when we get that who we are is NOT equal to how we perform, how we dress, where we work, or how put-together we are, but rather, that we are children of God -- we are ready, then, to face the rest of the week with that truth in tow.

So, then, here I sit on a Wednesday morning. My office space around my desk is a mess, papers are everywhere, my blackboard list has remained the same for the past day "Deposit checks. Call Amy, Dave and Mea. Look for Sheila's book." I'm hungry, tired and pre-occupied with the to-do lists in my head. I want to say, when my husband comes home, "I did this and that. Here's dinner. Look, a clean sofa cover, for once! Look, I mopped the floor, too!" And while I'm sure he'd appreciate those little touches of domesticity, I'm sure he -- and God, too -- would appreciate it more if I remembered who I am and stopped trying to earn my merit or sense of self.

(Reader's note: This blog entry originally appeared at Erika's personal blog: erikabai.livejournal.com)