Have You Had Your Sabbath Today?

Some days I feel really overwhelmed! It's not really a bad kind of overwhelmed, and I usually don't let it affect my good mood too extremely, but I often feel that there's a lot more to process than I'm willing to give attention to at the time!
 
I was reminded today that I need to rest! I'm not talking about sleep--that thought is just a funny joke right now with our newest blessing due to arrive any day and me finding it impossible to find a comfortable position to be in! I'm talking about that stillness we're supposed to experience with God. That "Sabbathing".

God, himself, gave us the example of the Sabbath or "rest" day in Genesis 2:3: "Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made." We know our God didn't need a day of rest, but he knew we would need one---in fact, we would need many!

There are some who practice a strict Sabbath day once a week (usually on Saturday or Sunday), where they do no work, no cooking, no entertainment---actually, I'm not really sure what they DO, but I know the Sabbath is, for them, a specific day with specific "rules" that is and are unchangeable.

While I don't think God intends for us to be that legalistic about the specific day or numbers of hours spent doing nothing, I can see how planning for and taking this day can be a peaceful and restful thing to look forward to!

The way I see it is that God wants us to have many "Sabbath days"...even "Sabbath hours"! One of the many similar definitions for "Sabbath" is "to rest". Feeling sick? Take a Sabbath. Want to contemplate God's many blessings on your life? Take a Sabbath. Feeling overwhelmed by absolutely nothing? (Why, yes I am!) Take a Sabbath!

I'm physically tired but I don't necessarily need a physical nap. Let's face it, I've got nine children---one of them squirming around inside me at all hours of the day and night---and all of them 12 years old and younger. I'm not going to get that nap! What I need is time to rest in God. I need to meditate on verses like Proverbs 18:10: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous run into it and are safe." I need to memorize promises like 2 Timothy 1:7, "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power and of love and of a sound mind."

There's a quote that says, "Don't be so much a 'human doing' as a 'human being'." There's no reason to overload myself with neither thoughts nor activities. When I feel this overwhelmed feeling coming on (especially when I don't know why!!), the best thing I can do is cast all my cares upon Him because He cares for me (1 Peter 5:7)...and rest!