day 11 - sabbath is good.

On Saturday, I enjoyed a sabbath for the first time in more than two weeks. No work, no class, no place I needed to be. I slept in and awoke to a stormy day, and no reason to get out of my sweatpants. I drank a cup of tea, got caught up on school work, read almost an entire book for fun, read poetry, looked at art, started my sermon, blogged, cooked a real dinner with homemade somosas, did laundry and prepared a sunday school lesson. I prayed and I rested, and I felt like I got so much done with time to spare.

Just that space of one open day, made me realize how important taking a sabbath is. Over the last few months both Kyle and I have had our parents in town for weekends... while seeing family is always a blessing, it is rarely a sabbath. You are out and about -- site-seeing, entertaining, walking or in my case learning to ski (a tale of pain, discouragement and ultimate triumph for another time). All of that is fun. But it is not relaxing.

I feel that for the last month, I've been playing catch-up. When I'm at school, I feel there's some work thing I should be doing. When I'm at work, I'm thinking of all the things I've left undone at school and at home.

So, I am overwhelmingly thankful for a sabbath: a day to just stay inside listening to the rain, getting a few things done, but more importantly just enjoying the act of just sitting and being cozy.

After this weekend, I came to Monday ready. Ready for the wildness of Jr. Highers at confirmation, the sermon and paper writing, the planning, the commuting. All of it. Sabbath makes me into a better, kinder, more patient person. I hope that when I am no longer juggling full-time work and full-time school, I will be better at making time for these kind of days. These sabbaths are the days that allow us to be our best selves, that prepare us for the work ahead, that let us celebrate the life we've lived and the life that is coming. To allow yourself to just be is such a rare and significant gift.