Shabbat Shalom

How was your Shabbat?

I have to admit that my day of rest is usually not quite what I had envisioned. As I light the Shabbat candles I think about all that God has done for me, especially in His willingness to die on the cross so that my sins could be forgiven. As I drink the grape juice and eat the challah bread I focus on His gift of eternal life. Shabbat is a picture of the rest we will one day experience if we are born again. I have prepared for this time and I am going to rest. Yet, as the morning arrives there are things that distract. Breakfast needs to be served and the cat needs to eat. If there is service that day, I can take that time to totally devote to God, but then there is lunch and dishes and half the day is already gone. During the afternoon there are further distractions. Those who do not practice a Saturday Shabbat, schedule events on Saturday and I feel obligated to attend. My husband mows the lawn and wants to go shopping for this or that. Finally, there is dinner and dishes again. Havdalah arrives and all too quickly Shabbat has ended. Where did the time go? Did I rest? Did I focus on God? It never seems to be enough. But then that's maybe what God wants us to experience. He wants us to long for that true rest that will never happen until He brings His kingdom. Until that time we only glimpse little pieces of that rest, a rest that for us lasts only a day. But the desire is there and each week I will try again.

Shabbat Shalom