Daniel Kwik

Sabbath is a gift, but it takes sacrifice

Taking a full day off from work during the Sabbath - how hard can that be? To be honest, I find it challenging, particularly with boundaries of mind with my side projects ([[boundaries of time, place, and mind]]). It's not that I don't want to kick back, relax, and take a chill pill, it's that I do love to relax, and I'd love for something to come out of my side projects even more.

Turns out people back in biblical times struggled with this too:

"Hear this, you who trample the needy and do away with the poor of the land, saying, “When will the New Moon be over that we may sell grain, and the Sabbath be ended that we may market wheat?” — skimping the measure, boosting the price and cheating with dishonest scales, 6 buying the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals, selling even the sweepings with the wheat." Amos 8:4-6

Thankfully, I am not trying to start a start-hustle in the slave trade in exchange for a pair of Nike's, but you get the point.

So, I think that Sabbath is a free gift, but for most people this paradoxically involves a letting go of something, a kind of sacrifice. What kind of sacrifice? I think it might be different for different people, but for me, it's sacrificing my need for control.

Our cultural narrative says, "You will only succeed if you try hard enough, if you have grit". And since I am a product of our culture, my impulses don't want me to stop doing things. In reality, this 'grit' is just a mask for an incessant need for control. Don't get me wrong, I believe grit can be healthy ([[hope-filled grit vs fear-based grit]]), but can I trust in God's leading, and allow myself to truly receive the gift of rest? Can I let go and recognize that the world doesn't revolve around my ambition?

Here's a litmus test: If I take a day off for complete rest, do I catch myself dreaming about my side-projects, or thinking "when will my Sabbath be over so that I can do X?" If so, I might be missing the point and might need to 'sacrificially' receive the Sabbath.

Sabbath is a gift, but it takes sacrifice