Watch
Listen
Welcome back to the Weird Souls Are We Podcast! Ep 4
We’re going to talk about:
- What is Sabbath for a Christian
- How Did Jesus Rest
- How we create space for Sabbath
- What do I do on Sabbath
What the show will look like In EP 5
We’ll talk about what listening looks like in our different relationships
– Ruthless Elimination of Hurry
Are you a Weird Soul? Weird Souls live a Jesus-centered life in modern culture.
Got Questions? Leave a comment.
Transcript
hi welcome back to the weird Souls RV podcast this is episode four and today we’re going to be talking about the first of our buckets that we need to be filling up which is rest and I like I said in the last episode uh if you haven’t listened to that go check it out it kind of gives an overview of the whole bucket concept but these are things that we want to fill up from God so how to have a god-centered world view on how we live our life and I put rest at the beginning because of the whole mentality behind it in Jesus’s time
uh the mentality was we rest well so that we can then work well not we rest because we worked hard and it’s a subtle but I think important shift compared to what we currently view rest as especially in America where there’s this hustle boss babe um get it and achieve it kind of mentality the keeping up with the Joneses and the Kardashians and all that kind of stuff with that kind of a mentality in our culture rust doesn’t seem very important there’s lots of arguments out there that Sabbath was
really something for the Jews which it was established for the Jews but so much so that we don’t really need to worry about that that’s an old law not something that we need to worry about under modern day that that’s a Jewish law and it’s not really something that Christians need to keep because it was more Old Testament than New Testament but I would say that’s not accurate and there are several different reasons why I think that we should still be keeping a Sabbath one it’s kind of woven into
our very existence fabric the whole world that it’s just a part of creation and therefore part of how creation needs to live in order to thrive well we see this just in the way the world is built through the seasons there’s all four seasons so things live and then things die but you can also think of winter as a time of rest for a lot of seeds a lot of plants different things like that they’re they’re resting before they go on to grow and produce again that’s why that’s also why it’s hard to grow
certain plants During certain Seasons because it’s the rest time and it’s just ingrained in them that they don’t grow and produce during certain types of seasons and just like it’s woven into the very beings of uh plants you have animals that hibernate through winter different things like that we are also called to rest and God even created it in such a way that we have benefits and even negatives if we do not get that rest in our life and so just a few things that God made it a positive thing
for us to rest one is that it gives our body time to heal so many times if we just keep pushing ourselves we get injured or we’re just not able to keep up and it’s been proven that even if it’s not a matter of you have an injury and you’re trying to rest that it just helps your whole body recoup and revive from any hard work that you have been doing and the same goes for your mind too if you just keep pushing and pushing and pushing you’re going to wear out it becomes your brain becomes foggy it
becomes difficult to think difficult to process you slow down and there’s so much research to prove that you have to give your brain a break or you greatly reduce your function there’s research out there that shows that somebody that works 60 plus hours a week doesn’t necessarily get that much more done than somebody that’s working 40 hours a week and it’s because they’re not giving themselves time to recoup so their body and their mind starts slowing down there’s plenty of research out there uh especially
around the concept of white space that it also improves your creativity and your ability to come up with new ideas just being able to rest but one of the things that I’ve recently found out that I I think is even more impactful to the fact that we need to rest is a quote that I’m going to read you from the book ruthless elimination of hurry and this is one that I read recently well I guess it’s not recently now I think it’s been a year or more it’s about a year I think since I’ve read this book and it’s probably about
time for me to go back and reread it because it’s one of those books that you can only take so much so rereading it always gives you a new thing that you’re like oh I should do that uh but it’s this whole concept of getting rid of this hustle culture of constantly being at the top of your game and Performing highly and all this stuff and what does it mean to actually live us have a Sabbath and live a life more Jesus centered because you don’t really see Jesus speeding through things or in a hurry to
get places It’s usually the opposite he takes his time he spends it with people he’s very intentional and so that’s what that whole book is about but there was a specific section about Sabbath and it said this in it um he’s talking about a group called The Seventh Day Adventists and they are religious literally about the Sabbath and this is the quote this doctor noted that they lived 10 years longer than the average American I did the math if I Sabbath every seven days it adds up to wait for it 10 years over
time almost exactly so when I say Sabbath is life-giving that’s not empty rhetoric if the study is to be believed every day you Sabbath you’re statistically and scientifically likely to get back an elongated life and so that study just showed that a group of people that that probably next to the Jews The Seventh-Day Adventists are that religious about Sabbath very very like intentional and they keep to it the best of anyone in the Christian sphere that tries to do Sabbath and it showed that they have 10 more years life expectancy
which is the equivalent of taking a Sabbath every day of your life and so that’s just one of the additional health benefits that we see time and time again if we set aside time to actually rest and recuperate now I will say I think there is a difference in how we Sabbath from the way the Jews did in the Old Testament to modern day era but there is a necessity for us to add Sabbath rest and to me that always meant oh well I’m gonna lay around watch Netflix not do much of anything and sometimes maybe that would
be a part of it but Sabbath was really a Time to completely set aside in focusing your attention on God for the Jews it was a time to put away all the work and only spend time with your attention towards God so if we need a full day of Sabbath rest if that is still a part of our life what does that actually look like and I think there is a difference between uh what the Jews did and how they observed Sabbath and what it looks like for us as Christians following Jesus I don’t think it’s as legalistic I
don’t think it’s as don’t do any work don’t do this don’t do that don’t do that it’s not it’s not a rule following thing when we set aside a day where we’re saying we’re going to rest from work and spend it focused on God it is giving us the chance to say I trust that God is the creator of the universe and he’s taking care of things it’s saying I don’t need to keep working consistently every day day in day out because I trust that God is going to take care of it and
so this is one step into deepening our relationship with God and trusting him is by saying for one day I’m going to give up being in control I’m going to give up trying to make everything work and I’m going to give it over to God and say I trust that he is going to take care of things so some of the things that we see Jesus doing in the Bible is spending time with his disciples uh we know that he was with them at different points on the Sabbath the Thursdays got really mad about what Jesus and his disciples were
doing on sabbaths but they were usually together they were in the temple so they were spending time learning about God uh Jesus also spent time away in the gardens resting and spending time just one on one with God so those are three different kind of categories you can look at and start saying okay so if that’s how Jesus was resting and spending time away in a non-legalistic way how does that translate into my life so if that’s how Jesus was spending time on Sabbath and spending time resting how does that translate into my life so I
think the first thing uh is being intentional and trying to create a habit around it so for Jesus it was very habitual already seventh day was Sabbath that’s how every Jew grew up in that era like that was just a part of what they did and so it was already very habitual for him for us modern day American Christians not so much a habit so one of the things that came out of reading ruthless elimination of Harry I did it with a group of people is starting small so finding either an hour an afternoon something like that that you can say
okay I can at least give up this amount of time for rest I can give up working and doing stuff in this amount of time uh to set it aside for rest with God and so really focusing in on when is that going to be in my calendar and setting it as an appointment just like you would anything else that’s important and blocking off that time I kind of fell out of the Habit a little bit of having like part of an afternoon as like Sabbath time set aside for me because we also had babies at that time and my husband we’re still talking through
Sabbath as a family vibe we might be good with it during the summer because we have a pool and we’ll just want to lay in the pool all the time but right after the book at least for a while I was doing um like half an afternoon every week was my Sabbath time and I tried to make sure I planned ahead of time what I was actually doing during that time so it wasn’t like it got there and I was like okay what am I gonna do and I wind up just laying around watching Netflix uh usually I tried to go for bike ride
because it was summertime at that moment so I tried to get outside for a little bit um I usually tried to make sure I read a book a little bit sometimes I actually took a nap which is rare for me usually I can’t take naps because I always feel like there’s something else I need to do but because I had set aside that time and said this is specifically Sabbath time for resting for reconnecting with God refocusing reconnecting with others I didn’t feel guilty and it was much easier for me to take a nap so if you’re
not a napper maybe that’s maybe that’s something that will help you um but I usually not if I if there were anybody if there was any people that I was trying to get connected with or something along those lines I would try and set up coffee meetings or things like that just to hang out with people or have them over to the house things like that and those are probably the main methods because one of my days off it’s Friday so I did it on afternoon the kids would have been in daycare everybody else was at work so
it was easier for me to set it aside because there weren’t any distractions I keep trying to figure out how to do this as a family and thinking about doing it on a Saturday seems really difficult so it’s probably something we need to revisit and figure out how can we make some kind of Sabbath time in our family Dynamic but at least on a personal level that’s how I was doing it for a little bit and then I fell off the wagon I have a friend that um actually led the group and she’s been doing it for a really long time on her
own she’s still trying to get her whole family on board but like she’s legit serious about it I’m a little jealous that she’s this good at it but uh she has a she has like a really low tech phone that she turns her phone off basically I think there’s only a handful of people that know how to get a hold of her during a Sabbath if it’s like super important but she like turns off her phone she has a solid 24 hours she does a Friday night to Saturday night situation and she’s been doing it for a
really long time some really great habits around that and something that one day I hope that I can get to that level but it’s all about being very intentional creating some habits around the Sabbath and knowing that you’re focusing on it with the right intent so you might be sitting there saying that’s great love the idea of having 24 hours of nothing that I have to get done but doesn’t seem practical and you have absolutely no clue what you would do without 24 hours so let’s talk a little bit more about
how we rest in God Jesus said abide in me um and that his burden is light and that we are to uh have our rest in Christ so what does that look like um it’s good to start with how do you connect with God like how do you and how do you rest so for me when I was first starting out on this like let’s figure out Sabbath and rest and all that kind of stuff I wasn’t really sure what that looked like for me because I enjoyed doing things I enjoyed learning I enjoy reading I enjoy doing these videos and podcasts and writing
and all that kind of stuff that is enjoyable for me so while I was going through this book and and this journey I also was introduced to another book called sacred Pathways and I think that pairs very well with starting to figure out how do you rest and how do you reconnect with God best because the sacred Pathways is nine different ways that humans typically connect with God and I think at times in our lives we all will connect with these different ways in some capacity but there are definitely one or two that you’re going
to be like this is 100 the way I always feel super connected with God so for me I am an intellect which means that learning and intellect is a way that I connect with God which is 100 true thus the reason why I am doing all of these teachings and learnings and let’s learn together kind of stuff and then my other pathway is the aesthetic I think is the right way to say it but basically that means that I connect best with God in solitude and quiet in things of that nature which goes really well with the intellect because having Quiet Moments
helps you study a little bit better so those are probably my two key way but I’m also a naturalist the night sky is one of my favorite things that God created and one of those moments where every time I look at it I’m like how could you not believe in God like it just seems blatantly obvious to me when you look at the night sky so sometimes being in nature really helps me connect sometimes Traditions help me connect I do love old hymns and I do love uh old like super intellectual prayers and Creeds and things like that there are
certain Traditions that I enjoy because there is this connection of all Christians throughout time when you do those traditions and so there are things like that that I do still connect with God but if I’m going to be given a Sabbath day and say go re-center yourself on God it’s probably going to be through Reading and studying and quiet time and just peace being at peace because I don’t get a lot of that the rest of my life I’ll put a link to the book and to some testing options that will maybe help you figure out what some
of your Pathways to connecting with God are and those would be the ones that I start with figuring out how you’re going to spend any Sabbath time that you set aside so whether it’s setting aside an hour an afternoon getting to that full 24 hours these are ways that you can say okay if this is the way that I feel most connected to God I’m going to make sure I spend some time on my in my Sabbath time in this kind of atmosphere now with your Sabbath time I would make sure that you are doing some focused
time with God so maybe you’re an a naturalist and being in nature really fills you up that doesn’t mean don’t spend time talking to God that doesn’t mean don’t spend time listening to him through the Bible or reflecting on how your past week or month or year has been I think all of those things are a good habit to add into any Sabbath time because it’s through reflecting and conversing with God that we understand where he is leading us and so journaling I think is always a good thing to add to Sabbath
um making sure you’re praying and reading and like I said it’s if this is not a habit that you have as a part of your life start small uh you can do one scripture one sentence for prayer and Bible but on a Sabbath when you have some dedicated time it might be good to like go onto the YouVersion app and find a devotional to go through or read one maybe you do one chapter and you do like a full paragraph written prayer or something like that there’s lots of resources that I’ll be developing and sticking on the
website um and even some that are there now that might help you but making sure when you have some set aside Focus time you’re trying to take a little bit deeper of a step in the ways that you communicate with God okay and so that’s how we’re going to refocus and re-center ourselves in God but As We Know we weren’t made to just be alone and do faith on our own like God wants us in community and so the other aspect of Sabbath the other aspect of Sabbath is also making sure that you are re-energizing
your personal relationships for some of us that might be having lots of people around for some of us it might be having just one or two people around and there might be sabbaths where it’s like I just really need complete time alone to renew because even though I like people I’m kind of borderline on the whole introvert extrovert thing so there are moments where I’m like nobody talk to me just I don’t want to hear any other human voices for a hot second and then there are times where I’m like let’s
have a party and bring all the people over so figuring out what relationships is it that you need to invest a little bit more time in that you’ve been maybe neglecting because of everything else going in your life and spending quality time with those people is another key aspect of Sabbath because yes Jesus shows us he went away from his disciples but so often they were right there with him through every single day of the week so sometimes alone sometimes with people and then I think it’s important to to
have fun find a hobby do things that are going to make you excited and happy for having a Sabbath day some people I think it was in might have been in the book might have been the podcast I listened to I don’t remember but for some people cooking is life-bringing they love cooking so maybe part of your Sabbath is sourdough bread that’s something that I would love to make a part of my life uh even if it’s not every single week but that is a hefty process that requires time and focus and can give you something to be
excited about if that’s up your alley some people are like that sounds like the worst thing in the world so don’t do that but find the ha find the hobby or the activity that is going to make you excited about the time that you’re setting aside maybe it’s riding your bike maybe it’s doing a new craft maybe it is going to the library or a coffee shop and just sitting there in that atmosphere that you love whatever it is find something that’s fun that can also bring you Joy whether it’s by yourself
or with other people and the last thing I want to talk about before we wrap things up is one give yourself Grace in this whole process like I said I was good for a minute and then I fell off the bandwagon I need to get back on uh that’s part I’m kind of teaching myself in all of this that yes I need to refocus that time but also think about it in seasons okay a good recommendation that a lot of people give is um one day a week one week and a quarter and one week a year so Sabbath isn’t just about that one day a week getaway
it’s also about how you’re resting as a whole throughout your space to really make sure that you’re staying in a really healthy Rhythm um I would even maybe suggest if you feel like a whole day is too much maybe trying to section out your day an arrest mentality the common mentality would be the Pomodoro method and it’s this concept that you do little brief Sprints of focus time and then you take breaks and I think it’s 50 minutes and then a 10 minute break I haven’t done this technique in a really long time but uh
you do little Sprints and then after you do four of them you take a half hour break so it works really well with a work day where you’re doing Focus time little breaks and then you have your lunch break kind of in there and then you do it again and then you’re done with your work day but even on off days even when you’re not doing work even if you work from the home and it’s not like a a work office setting for what you do you can still set aside in your day little moments that it’s like okay
whole day a whole 24 hour span is probably not going to work for me but I can do 50 minutes and then I’m gonna rest for 10 and then 50 minutes and then rest for 10. and in those 10 minute rests in this one I’m going to spend time in my Bible and this time I’m going to do journaling and this time I’m going to do I don’t know meditation or worship songs or I’m gonna call my mom or you know whatever whatever brings you peace and joy and refreshing of the Soul you’re gonna bookmark those in for 10 seconds
10 minutes 10 minute increments throughout your day and then you have a half hour where I’m gonna go outside and take a walk or I’m gonna read a book or you know whatever those things are and so you can kind of start getting yourself entered into more of a Sabbath rest mentality in a Day frame and then slowly work towards making it a week and then you can do the quarters and then you can do the years and through that you’re creating space and as you build in more time for rest not only are you creating space for your
body and mind and spirit to heal but you’re also reminding yourself every single time that God is in control and you are not and that constant reminder is what continually brings us in faith to God in our relationships and helps us remember that we are his children and he’s got it he’s got it and we don’t need to worry about it so I hope this helps you kind of maybe rethink what a Sabbath is and start considering ways that you are going to start a Sabbath uh I’d love to hear in the comments what
kind of things you think you’re going to take away from this and start applying to your own personal life in a couple months maybe a couple weeks I don’t know in the future I’ll do a follow-up and say kind of where I’m at in this whole process because like I said many times I’m preaching to the choir I know I need this and I need to really reevaluate how I set up my weeks now to decide how I’m going to be entering into a Sabbath mentality throughout my week thanks for watching or listening
wherever you’re at and if you enjoyed this content make sure to hit the Subscribe button like it and leave a comment we’ll see you next time.
