Lenten Devotional – March 10, 2023

Friday, March 10, 2023
Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management for Mortals by Oliver Burkeman
Lenten Devotional by Georgie Bever

“ . . pausing in your work for long enough to enter the coherent, harmonious, somehow thicker experience of time that comes with being ‘on the receiving end’ of life, the feeling of stepping off the clock into ‘deep time,’ rather than ceaselessly struggling to master it.”
Four Thousand Weeks – Time Management for Mortals

Can you imagine a rest and restoration that might come with sitting alone on a warm beach watching and listening to the waves role in?  Just watching.  Shut your eyes, and just listen.  Feel the warmth on your face.  Feel just a whisper of a breeze on your neck.  Just be.  This is ‘deep time.’

Can you imagine sitting alone on top of a hill in a grassy meadow and seeing nothing but the valley below?  Smell the air.  Feel the breeze.  Hear the breeze rustle the grass.  Just be.  This is ‘deep time.’

Can you imagine sitting with your family with the fireplace burning?  Feel the love surrounding you.  Hear the family remembering a fun time you all shared.  Smell the meal cooking – the spices and herbs.  Just be.  This is ‘deep time.’

This is the Sabbath our Father planned for us. 

Can you play a musical instrument?  Can you ride a bicycle?  Can you walk?  Can you read?  Although our Father gave you the ability to do these things, you weren’t good when you first began.  It took practice.  It took making mistakes.  You failed a few times.  But you kept doing it – over, and over, and over.  Then it became easier.  Now you can do it without much thought.  It is the same way with learning to really experiencing the Sabbath that God made for you.

A baby knows how to experience the Sabbath.  Watch a baby sit and finger a blanket.  He puts it in his mouth.  She pulls it and then kicks at it.  Baby is experiencing Sabbath.  Along the way someone introduced us to time.  Play time.  Nap time.  School time.  Screen time.  Time to get up.  Time to go to school.  Time to do homework.  Play dates.  Time to leave for church.  Time to eat.  Time to go to bed.  By the time we are in elementary school we are regulated by time.  When we become adults, time “is of the essence.”  When we become parents, there isn’t “enough time.”  Only you can pull the plug on this obsession with TIME and begin to experience the Sabbath that is your gift from God.  It will take practice and perseverance on your part, but it will be worth it. 

Prayer thoughts:
Ask God to help you begin to experience the gift for you that he made and named Sabbath.