Weeding is my Sabbath

Every year, I have to go before the Board of Ordained Ministry of my denomination and be evaluated. They want to know what I am doing, how things are going with my church and how my walk with God is progressing.

At the last meeting, it was going rather well until one of the board members asked me if I was taking time to celebrate Sabbath?

This seemed rather silly to me because I am in church every Sunday! I was sure I was celebrating the Sabbath and I said so.

“No, no,” she said, “I want to know if you are taking time to rest and honor God?”

This made me sit there in stunned silence while my mind whirled trying to remember that last time I stopped to rest.

Since I was unable to come up with anything truly convincing, I was told that upon my next evaluation, I would have to bring proof that I had taken the time to care for myself and honor God.

I felt this was harsh because I am a rolling ball of energy that has a hard time sitting still. It would be hard to honor their request.

I looked up the definition for Sabbath and found that it is a day of religious observance and abstinence from work.

Exodus 20:8-11 said this, the Sabbath is the seventh day of the week, on which we are to rest, in remembrance that God created the universe in six days and then “rested” on the seventh day.

Well that seemed easy enough, I would pick a day and not do anything. My husband expressed his doubts, but I was determined. It lasted two weeks, and I thought I was going to lose my mind.

In the last year, I have come to understand that Sabbath can be different things to different people. Yes, it is a way to rest and recharge but how you do that isn’t set in stone.

I personally don’t have a specific day that I call “Sabbath.” I work professionally every day except for Saturday. So I have to carve out pieces of time instead of whole days.

One of my favorite ways to enjoy Sabbath is by weeding. Now weeding is a chore to most people, but you have to look at it from my point of view.

I have two different jobs that work with teaching people. I sometime work for months and don’t see a lot of progress. Learning is abstract in many ways and it can’t always be measured easily.

On the other hand when I pull weeds, I can look back and see what I have done. It gives me hope and it is beautiful. Seeing the progress makes me happy and I want to do more.

I find weed pulling very therapeutic and peaceful. I hope that in your life, you can find your “Sabbath.”

Remember, anything that gives you peace in your soul brings you closer to God.