sabbath, part 1

a recent observation that i don't know how to "sabbath" has brought me to the book by the same name, by dan allender, president and founder of mars hill graduate school. allender's book is not so much a "how-to" but musings on the meaning and act of sabbath. he's poignant, deep and defines sabbath with beautiful words i've never considered before.

"Instead, we must ask, what beauty will you explore and get lost in during this day of celebration? What beauty will open your eyes to the questions God wants you to ponder in order to increase your awe and gratitude?

The Sabbath is the day to experiment with beauty that teases your hunger to know more glory. It is a day of study and silence on one Sabbath, a cutting out of a new kite pattern to fly on a wild breezy Sabbath another... What intrigues, amazes, tickles your fancy, delights your senses, and casts you into an entirely new and unlimited world is the raw material of Sabbath." (pg 46-47)

and then, on the role of time:

"Sabbath demands that we look at time from a different perspective than a linear, sequential, progressive process. The most commonly held view of time in the Western world was developed by Augustine. In his highly subjective view of time, the present doesn't exist - there is only the past and future. The past is entered by memory and is spent, gone and mostly regretted. The future cannot be known or remembered, therefore its uncertainty causes us worry. Time, for Augustine, is not a matter of joy; it is wearisome and hard." (pg 56-57)

awesomeness so far. i'm trying to take a little at a time so i can mull over the ideas. thanks for your insights,

mutant relationships

reflecting today on relationships and the way they change. this year has been about a dynamic-shift for matt andh i in our relationship, but that's not the only relationship changing. a friend i've known for quite a while, who seems to be growing distant. another friend who goes out of her way to show love and concern. a new friend who's growing close quickly. even my relationship with my mom is different. some changes are good. some changes don't seem good right now. and the struggle is in figuring out how to cope with the not-good, while appreciating the good.

and that's where i'm at today.

sunday

it's raining.
i'm all dressed up.
dad and deb are coming to church.
there's soon-to-be strawberry rhubarb jam at home, waiting to be canned.
and i'm preaching, on my own for the first time today.

this should prove to be a very nice day.

i have a twitch, and other tuesday happenings...

it's tuesday. and i'm feeling random.

• i have a twitch in my right eye. actually, i've add this twitch for more than a week now. i'm coming to believe it's stress-induced, given that i've already had 6 canker sores (in a 5 day period?), and a few other common stress-related symptoms we won't discuss here. so, anyway, back to the twitch. at one particularly stressful moment today, the twitch began again in my right eye, then stopped, traveled to my left, stopped and traveled back to my right eye again. cool.
  
• it's raining a bit. nothing real and fall-like, but i feel good knowing it's just around the corner.
  
• and it's september 1st. i love this time of year.
  
• matt starts his whirlyball season tomorrow. yeah, it's a sport. he's in a league and everything. i can't decide if this is "cool" or "dorky", so i'm leaning toward "cute" and just threatening to bedazzle his jersey.
  
• i'm preaching on sunday. could this be the source of my heightened stress level? perhaps a contributor, anyway. awesome. speaking on ruth. really looking forward to it. stressed. but still, really looking forward to it.
  
• i'm typing as fast as i possible can because my battery is on reserve power now and i want to finish this before it dies so i can go to bed for the night.
  
• fugue, my 8 year old, seriously-overweight, tabby ("flabby tabby") has found his inner kitten. earlier, he tried to steal my hair bands from the coffee table. when i rescued them from the floor, he moved on to the pen on the coffee table (now also on the floor). who is this guy??

see, i told you. random.