“I said to myself, ‘Relax and rest. God has showered you with blessings. Soul, you’ve been rescued from death; Eye, you’ve been rescued from tears; And you, Foot, were kept from stumbling.'”
-Psalm 116:7-8 (The Message)
Last night a pot of homemade chicken noodle soup simmered on the stove while wafts of sweet cinnamon apple crumble love filled the kitchen with good news of dessert. Mr. Fantastic was teaching one last Old Testament class at the church, and the kids and I anxiously awaited his return with Christmas-morning-like anticipation.
Once he rolled through the front door, with a happy smile and a box of coffee cups he had hoarded in his office for a month or so, it was official: We are sabbaticalling.
Sabbaticalling is a new word. I made it up last night. And I am using it a lot today, the first of thirty days that we are commanding ourselves to focus on our family, to sleep more, to rest in God, and to let others do the work of pastoring for a little while.
I am grateful for a church family that insists we take time off like this every few years. I am grateful for a husband who takes a break with as much faithfulness as he labors for the Lord. I am grateful to serve a God who commands times of rest. God has truly showered us with blessings, rescued us from death and tears and stumbling; we are humbled by His great care for us.
Resting takes great faith for all of us, who can so easily rely more on what we are capable of doing for God than we ought to.
I keep saying this one line over and over these days: We walk by faith, not by sight. That faith is seeping deeper and deeper into my mind and heart. I need greater trust in what I can’t see so that I can victoriously live the life God has called me to live.
So we rest in faith, exalting God high above our work. He sees our faith and He strengthens us with His great love. His joy makes us complete, and there is no one else like Him in all the earth.
Pass out the chicken noodle soup and the apple crumble, open old beloved books, play songs of love while the laughter rises over card games, and listen as family stories are passed from one generation to the next.
Resting in faith is beautiful and it is good news to my weary heart that needs more of the Lord it loves most of all. I’m so glad I made that noun into a verb. Let the sabbaticalling begin!
