Mortar in our Joints

“God gave us the gift of Sabbath—

not just as a day, but as an orientation,

 a way of seeing and knowing.

 Sabbath keeping is a form of mending.

 It's mortar in the joints.  

Keep Sabbath or else break too easily.  

Keep it, otherwise our dustiness consumes us,

becomes us, and we end up able 

to hold exactly nothing.”

~Mark Buchanen

I was once teaching about healthy eating

and joking with a group of students

in a leadership training class.

I said, "If a thing rhymes with no-no

you probably shouldn't eat it!"

I was referring to daily staples

such as the ho-ho and the jo-jo.

I recently have been thinking

the same about healthy living.

"If a thing rhymes with no-no

you probably shouldn't be doing it!"

Perhaps worse than the ho-ho or jo-jo

 is the all consuming lifestyle of the go-go.

This lifestyle may be necessary for a season;

there are times where we just have to

cry out for the Lord to be our strength.

But if these seasons go on endlessly and

we don’t stop to assess our spin cycle,

we become robotic and worn out.

Regardless of where we are at,

the concept of rest, of being still,

of ceasing from our own labors

is critically important to understand.

Be still and know that I am God.

 

Some knowing only comes through stillness.

This isn’t a brand new idea--

I have had a measure of understanding.

But there is so much more.

My joints are a bit achy.

Sabbath rest is “mortar in the joints.”

I am on a paradoxical journey

of being still that I might discover

this new place of rest.

My new mantra:

Say no to the go.
It is a posture of the heart.

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