Sabbath - enjoy the fruits

Do you have colleagues who greet you on Friday morning with a relieved "Thank God it's Friday!"? Some weeks our energy is already used up by Monday evening and we feel like we're dragging ourselves into the weekend with the last of our strength. And then what do we do at the weekend? We are so exhausted that we sleep until midday and spend the rest of the day binging on our favorite series on the sofa. On Sunday evening, we go to bed with the unsatisfactory feeling that we've wasted our weekend.

Yet, we are supposed to take a day of rest once a week, the Sabbath. So why shouldn't we sleep a lot and make ourselves comfortable on our couch? Generally nothing, but resting is not the same as doing nothing. We should use our day of rest to recharge our batteries. We should seek God's presence, read the Bible, pray, attend church services and recharge our batteries in a way that suits our nature. Perhaps you are one of those people who are energized by fellowship and sharing with friends. Perhaps you also need peace and quiet and go to the mountains or the seaside with your partner to sort out the chaos of thoughts in your head.

How we find rest is up to us. But we need this one day. Not only to recharge our batteries, but also to enjoy the fruits of our labor. Because at the end of the week, when we look at the many ways in which God has blessed us, gratitude spreads through our hearts and heaviness, worries and fears have to go. During the week, we may be stuck in our hamster wheel of to-dos. But looking at God's provision makes us realize again that we don't have to do anything, because God's guiding hand can also be felt in our everyday lives. Even if the weekend seems far away.

But so that we don't forget this certainty even on stressful days, we need regular moments of pause in which we enjoy these fruits and celebrate how good God is. When we focus on the fact that we may try hard, but without God we can achieve nothing, humility returns to a heart hardened by the pressure to perform during the working week. We need the Sabbath. And we can celebrate how wonderful God is, how much he loves us and that he sets the table in the face of our to-dos.

Next Step: How can you use your Sabbath to recharge your batteries? Take a prayer walk and ask the Holy Spirit how he envisions the Sabbath for you.