Morning Meditation for Wednesday

 

Yesterday, we built upon the prayer posture and practice of breathing with silence.  How did that go?  Honestly, let me know.  I would love to talk to you or put a comment/response to this question.

 

The next posture and prayer practice John Mark Comer writes about is Sabbath.  This is a 24-hour time for rest.  Barbara Brown Taylor describes Sabbath as, “[The] day you are good for nothing.”  You cease moving so your soul can catch up. 

 

Like silence, you don’t need to start off with a full day.  Although, I caution my fellow Type A, work-a-holic friends, there is always a reason why you can’t take a full day.  And I can be wonderfully creative in the ways I let myself off the Sabbath invitation.  But many of the reasons why I don’t practice Sabbath are about me and my ego.  I like to prove that I am needed and necessary.  We wear busyness as a badge of honor in our culture.  Yet, this is the point of Sabbath, to remember who and whose you are.  You are more than what you produce or cross off your to-do list.

 

I invite you to pick two hours when you will stop.  This is important.  John Mark Comer says stop not only working but thinking about work or stress or strain.  When those thoughts come, acknowledge them, and pass them right to God.  Second, find a restful position.  This could be a comfortable chair or laying down on your bed.  Third, do something that brings you joy.  This could be food or talking to a friend or sitting outside.  Finally, breathe. 

 

I am inviting you to find two hours within the next week.  Then, like a video game, try to level up each week by adding an hour.  That means, if my math is right, by the end of this year you would be up to nine hours.

 

Now, if you just broke out in a cold sweat or thought, “I could never do that!”  Breathe.  This week is two hours.  Focus on that.  Please remember, if you struggle with this, I hear you.  I do too.  I would love to talk to you more about why this practice and posture is so important. 

 

One final suggestion on your Sabbath time, try to not watch television during those hours, at least for the rest of this month.  We could talk more about incorporating screens into your Sabbath time as you add hours on to the practice.  After all, there are some television shows that remind me laughter is a prayer to God, center and calm me.  We can certainly chat more if this is a deal breaker. 

 

I pray right now you will take out your calendar and block Sabbath time to be with God, to pray, and breathe.  For you to remember you are beautifully created in God’s image who also rested on the seventh day.  May that holy model move our souls and be experienced in our lives in these days. Amen.