Earplugs muted jazzy music and buzzing conversations as I sat at a coffee shop the day before Christmas Eve.

I was reflecting with an old friend affectionately known as “the poet,” the soulful side of me.

I named this part of me in a counselling session last winter along with “the workhorse,” a more driven and disciplined part of me who had signed up for a heavy load this past fall.

Naming these parts invited them to ride together rather than as rivals.

On Christmas morning, before unwrapping cross-country skis and poles and trying on my new boots, I opened a touching painting my husband had picked out at a conference in California.

Tears fell as I read the paragraph the artist, Jess Boldt, used to describe “The Wild One.”

Then I turned the frame over and looked into the uncovered eye of a mysterious yet familiar-looking horse.

I was taken back to the moment in a counselling session when my mind’s eye sensed the workhorse turn and look at me with sadness for being overworked and longing for a better way.

This naming of parts is one tool to discover how God made me and the healing, flourishing adventure he continues to invite me (and you) on!

As the poet began riding the workhorse this past fall, I discovered a beautiful new level of synergy. The Lord expanded my capacity for work while inviting me into daily rhythms of rest.

In the most practical ways, this often involved early mornings with Scripture and a journal, late afternoon walks with my neighbour-friend, and early evening decaf Americanos on the couch with my husband as we reflected on our day.

There was nuance as God’s grace sustained me through a season of family, ministry, work, and relationship responsibilities, infusing me with deepening gratitude.

In her book Teaching From Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace, Sarah Mackenzie (15) says: 

As Machenzie highlighted, grace is a fact I want to celebrate as 2024 waves goodbye!

Over the last decade of homeschooling, I have often revisited her book.

While I mostly read books for seminary this fall, I snuck this thin book into a rare evening in the bathtub for a refreshing review and have gathered some quotes to share in this post. I also researched Sabbath themes for my final exegetical paper in my course on the Pentateuch, knowing that this topic would guide the poet-workhorse duo this fall and while I do not include my twelve-page paper, I do include a few quotes and ideas on living the Sabbath way!

What do you think of when you hear sabbath?

Perhaps it stirs images of Benedictine monks in prayer, a family gathered around a candle-lit table full of food, or a person walking in solitude along a white-sandy beach, but elements of these vignettes only begin to describe the gift of a life crafted around its principles and its effect on society.

God first presented a space of rest in the Garden of Eden by modelling a day of ceasing from work after the sixth day of creation (Gen 2:2-3).

Since humanity’s fall into sin, people have struggled to balance work and rest (Vaida, 6).

Following Genesis’ brief but poignant encounter with God’s day of rest, themes that echo this space are interwoven through the Bible's first five books.

Some examples are Law and Covenantal practices in Exodus, a Holiness Code with a focus on restoration of land and freedom in Leviticus (Achenbach, 2), severe consequences in Numbers 15:32-36 and a reiteration of the Law in Deuteronomy 5:12-15.

References to the Sabbath flow through the Old Testament and into the New Testament, where Jesus embodies the heart of this gift (Mark 2:27).

He invites his disciples and followers to walk “characterized not by outward perceptions and rules, but by rest in God, by loving communion with Him and with neighbour” (Vaida, 2).

The Biblical invitation to rest extends to today’s busy culture, which is exhausted from searching for value through achievement and desperately needs to know:

Sabbath is a weekly gift of God’s grace, not payment for work well done. (Davis, 577)

As a mom who currently homeschools five children and drives my oldest to a Christian school down the road, I want to model countercultural practices for my kids' future benefit and our present experience of life together.

Mackenzie urges:

Do whatever you need in order to behold the face of God in your children and to delight in them. (60)

What is the miracle of time?

Our culture is deceived into thinking we can master time with efficiency.

I'll unapologetically raise my hand to admit I have tried.

For much of my adult life, I measured the success of my day by how efficient I was.

I understood the value of each precious minute but missed time’s miracle.

In her work on Sabbath as counter-cultural, Melissa Davis recognizes:

Time can be bought, borrowed, saved, managed, wasted, shared, squandered, spent—but not made. (Davis, 563)

I have experienced the idol of busyness and lived the soul-sucking lie that I “prove my worth” by what I am doing or achieving (Davis, 572).

But this is a story for another blog post about God's inner healing work, which helped me ride freer this fall as I repented of some idols (perhaps I will call it “The Wild One”?).

Davis describes the piece I often neglected in my hustle:

Sabbath renews time by reminding us that time belongs to God. (576)

What a freeing concept!

The story of the Israelites in Exodus 16 shows how rest, work and provision are not ours to meddle with and that God wants us to look to him as the sustainer of all things, just as he wanted them to walk in daily obedience and trust for manna.

At the heart of this episode is a question to the Israelites that we can also reflect on:

Do [I] trust God’s faithfulness…enough to rest? (Davis, 575)

The cost of not living the sabbath way can significantly affect personal health and family relationships and hinder or limit kingdom ministry and godly influence in society.

But the benefits are all-encompassing, as described by Ruth Haley Barton in Sacred Rhythms:

The point of the sabbath is to honor our need for a sane rhythm of work and rest. It is to honor the body’s need for rest, the spirit’s need for replenishment and the soul’s need to delight itself in God for God’s own sake. (168)

Partnering with Sabbath rest includes daily and weekly rhythms and extended periods of significant and intentional rest, such as holidays or a sabbatical from work and ministry.

Recently, I revisited my Rule of Life to pray through and update the areas of time (spiritual), trust (relational), temple (physical), treasure (financial), and talent (missional).

This trellis supports our growth in the ways of God, and you can read more about this practice here.

A Rule of Life is aimed in a different direction than the modern world, drowning in exhaustion and expectations and crying out for the restorative hope Sabbath rhythms offer.

Barton affirms:

What an amazing thing it would be to have the rhythms of your life regularly usher you into such deep trust that you could actually rest from it all. (162)

Setting boundaries by living with rhythms of rest is an action plan for being with God in the nitty-gritty of daily life.

Mackenzie says:

Our days, though messy, loud, chaotic, and sometimes completely overwhelming, can be filled with great peace. (69)

I'm incredibly grateful to be ending 2024 full of peace and joy, and I have no doubt this is a gracious gift from the Lord (Nehemiah 8:10).

Through my life and ministry, I want to invite others to experience what Barton describes as “rest turn[ing] into delight, and delight turn[ing] into gratitude, and gratitude into worship” (168).

Mackenzie captures the essence of what it means to Lead With Love:

Teaching from rest doesn't mean we aren't planning ahead (in fact, we will likely need to use written plans and checklists), and it definitely doesn't mean we are lazy. It means that we are doing one thing at a time, and we do that thing with all our heart. (51)

One thing at a time is the gift of presence!

In the last month of Christmas events, I've sat in some tender settings with fresh grief from loss, reminding me of what matters at the core of our time spent on earth, and Mackenzie highlights this so well (51):

As you reflect, perhaps you sense your unique version of the workhorse and the poet. The imagery and tensions may look very different, but as the Holy Spirit reveals growth areas, he will also provide you with the next step on your healing journey.

I pray that in 2025, as we continue to engage with God's good work, we will do so from a place of deep trust, rest, and anticipation of the Great Jubilee when all that is broken will be restored.

Until then, work from rest, fellow traveller, and ride on, brave poet, into a new year filled with passion, purpose and sweet peace!

What is God revealing to you about this posture of working from rest?

Share your reflections in the comments below, on social media or feel free to send me an email!

I love hearing from my readers and have missed you this last quarter.

Bibliography

Achenbach, Reinhard. “The Religious, Social and Ecological Impact of the Sabbath-Commandment.” Bangalore Theological Forum 54, no. 2 (2022): 1-20, https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=f05edaa8-6335-358f-ae55-bae2868d7ba0.

Barton, Ruth Haley. Sacred Rhythms: Arranging Our Lives for Spiritual Transformation. 1st edition. InterVarsityPress, 2022.

Davis, Melissa. “Sabbath as a Counter-Formational Practice in a Culture of Busyness.” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 64, no. 3 (2021): 563–81, https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=596e15fc-5c12-3301-a788-1bd981691c6a.

Mackenzie, Sarah. Teaching from Rest: A Homeschooler’s Guide to Unshakable Peace. Edited by Dr Christopher Perrin. 2.0 edition. Classical Academic Press, 2015.

Vaida, Cristian. “Sabbath and Sunday: The Meaning of the Day of Rest in the Ancient Church – A Hope for the Future?” HTS Theological Studies 79, no. 1 (2023): 1–7, doi:10.4102/hts.v79i1.8263.