Sabbath

Clay Smith

As the holiday season approaches, I have begun to notice a posture in my heart rising. Unfortunately, it feels like concern or anxiousness. It’s not because I don’t like the holidays or dread being around family; rather, I feel I have too much to do before I can wrap up the year. That feeling haunts me anytime there is a deadline approaching. The problem with that feeling is that I couldn’t tell you all the things I need to get done, but I know it’s a lot.

I recently came across a statement that stuck with me.

Margin is simply the difference between your limit and your load.

At first, this seemed to be an overly simplistic perspective, but as I considered it, I found the wisdom and value in it. My next thought was How does one know what their load is or what their limit is? As a father and husband, I have a constant list of to-do’s running through my mind. I once believed this was unique to me, but the more I‘ve shared these thoughts with other men, the more I have found it to be commonplace.

In his book The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, John Mark Comer highlights the sickness of hurry that persists in our society, and judging by my life and my observations of others, things seem to be getting worse. Technology has certainly improved our ability to accomplish more and to stay connected, but it has also raised the bar on what is expected of us. It’s hard to believe that any one of the phones we carry around in our pockets has more processing power than the array of computers used to send rockets to the moon.

But, with great power comes great responsibility, and it seems that most of us aren’t up to the task.

There are so many things available to us that we can’t wrap our heads around the overwhelming options to choose from. So, we scroll on looking for the next thing we believe we either need or need to experience.

As I’m sure many of you can relate, I have struggled with this sickness for most of my life, but I am finding that my ability to tolerate the symptoms has diminished over time. For most of my life, people have been in awe of my energy level and my ability to accomplish much. As I’ve aged, the ability to keep the same pace has begun to fade. From a worldly perspective, this pace and approach has been very rewarding, but it also has taken its toll. So, I began to consider how to rest, and more importantly, find peace in my state of rest. I confessed to my wife that some Sundays are hard for me to rest because I didn’t accomplish enough in the previous six days to “deserve” the rest. I would choose to be obedient and observe the sabbath even though my to-do list haunted me for the day.

I realized two things were in the way of enjoying the day of rest: worship, and delight in God.

First, what I didn’t realize is that I expect too much of my abilities and my time to accomplish my list. I am notorious for packing too many things into a set period of time and then being frustrated for not getting it all done. Second, the sabbath wasn’t working for me because I’ve held a significantly flawed view of the sabbath and how to observe it.

I not only missed the point of the Sabbath, but I also practiced the rest of the week incorrectly. Running a marathon race and then collapsing for a day is a form of violence to the soul, and yet I have been doing that for years while ignoring the impact.

So, I began to determine where my limit is and where my load is.

Clearly, I can change one of those factors to create margin, and I was determined to make that happen. I started writing out the list of things I need to get done and then estimating the time it would take for each task. My wife made an excellent point that I had to incorporate in the process that I am a terrible estimator of the time it takes to do new things. I’ve mowed the grass a hundred times, so I can estimate that fairly accurately. But other tasks don’t get the luxury of experience to help estimate the time they take. So, I took her advice and multiplied those values by three. As the list grew and the time added up, I realized that I had multiple years of to-do’s ahead of me. That was sobering and disappointing, but at the same time it shifted my perspective. Many of the things on that list couldn’t wait years, so I had a few options: I could pay someone to accomplish them for me, prioritize the most important tasks and then start working down the list, or I could just let most of them go.

I came to the realization that I can’t do or have all that I want in this life. I was relearning that God designed this world, after Eden, to be unfulfilling to our souls. He did it so we would desire him and his kingdom. He is the source of life and the only relationship that can satisfy our soul’s longings. I had to determine what success for my week(s) would look like considering I want to enjoy my life and find peace for my soul rather than pursue things that don’t really matter eternally. That way, I could approach each day with a better understanding of my limitations and adjust my load to match, which would enable me to find delight in God on the sabbath instead of longing for more.

OUR GUEST BLOGGER

Clay Smith

Clay, an Atlanta native, lives with his wife Lacey and two sons, Tyler and Derek in Marietta, GA. His love for the outdoors includes backpacking, mountain climbing, rock climbing and snowboarding in the winter. Currently, his focus is on coaching his sons in both wrestling and golf, but the family’s favorite past time is boating. During the summer you can find them on Lake Oconee wakeboarding, surfing or tubing.