Over the past year or so, God seems to be pushing Sabbath in my face over and over again. My wife and I got invited in the Fall to lead a retreat about Sabbath. That was the first round of God saying, “Hey John, this Sabbath thing I mentioned in the ten commandments, I’m pretty serious about it. That would be why I put it in the top ten. You’re not so bad about the other nine, but you basically stink at that one.”
Books, references, and passages just keep coming at me about Sabbath. Today, the call to Sabbath came again, but in an odd way. I was reviewing my goals this morning and not happy. If you’re not aware, I create annual and quarterly goals. I get hardcore about them. I write out my goals and review them weekly. I break them down into action steps. I am not your typically new year’s resolution person, one who tosses out a loose intention only to not remember what it is a few weeks later.
This morning, I was chaffed by my failure to put out good quality discipleship training for you via posts at least weekly. That was one of my goals. Instead, I have been posting weakly. I was mulling over why. I found myself sadly admitting that my desire to write was meager, because my own practical discipleship efforts were marginal. Uh, oh! This isn’t what I was wanting to admit to myself on a Monday morning looking at goals.
As I was journaling about this, a familiar warning popped up in the corner of my computer screen. The computer politely informed me…
You are now running on reserve battery power!
You are now running on reserve battery power!
I dismissed it and kept typing. Moments later my screen went blank. I scurried to get my chord and then not so patiently had to wait for it all to come back to life.
Once the screen was back on, there was a rather long wait until my computer was juiced up for the cursor to become responsive. Meanwhile, all I could do is wait. The irony was not lost on me.
I felt like I was getting a big tap on the shoulder, “John excuse me, but I keep warning you that your battery is running dry. You better plug in. You know what will happen if you don’t. Suddenly, you’ll drop. You won’t be able to write, think, preach, or doing anything productive. If you slow down and plug in right now you can keep on producing. If you don’t…well, be ready for a long slow down while you’re forced to plug back in and slowly watch things come back to life at an infuriatingly slow pace.”
I decided to listen. I plugged into God’s Word, did a little research, did a little prayer. Viola! The rumblings to write and stirrings of insight where once again flowing.
How is your battery? Are you staying plugged in? Has God give any warning signs that you need to slow down and recharge?
Take it from one who has habitually ignored the signs, DON’T. Burning out and shutting down isn’t very fun.
Blessings on your efforts to find Sabbath in a hurry scurry world,
John Arnold
The Practical Disciple