Pockets of Sabbath Part 3

All throughout the Gospels, we see Jesus modeling a lifestyle of solitude and silence; what we have been referring to this week as “pockets of sabbath.” Continually He withdrew from people, daily life activities, and the demands of his ministry to be alone with the Father and pray.

Jesus’ solitude is how he went deeper in his love-relationship with the God he knew as Abba, Father.  Jesus invites us to join him.  How could we miss the significance of Jesus’ solitude and silence with the Father? How could we think that we can live well or love well without following Jesus’ example?

I was talking with a dear friend and fellow mom the other day.  She was telling me how disconnected she felt to everyone and everything, including God.  She felt like she was burning the candle at both ends between work, mom-life, her marriage, etc.  I asked her how her times with Jesus had been lately, and she said, “What time? I don’t have time to set aside for that right now.”

If we are called to model our lives after Jesus, who are we to think that we can neglect this important aspect of our spiritual lives.  Some people say that they can’t afford to set aside time for something such as this, but I say that we can’t afford not to.  I believe our very lives depend on it.  In fact, I always say…”It’s better to be sleep deprived than God deprived.”

This week’s challenge…set your alarm just 10-15 minutes earlier so that you can rise while the house is still quiet and spend that time in solitude and silence.  Allow God to remind you WHO you are and WHOSE you are.  Filling you up, so that you can then pour out to those around you.  Use the hashtag #pocketofsabbath to document your time as a way of keeping yourself accountable.