Tomorrow is Saturday, February 27th, 2021 and the first time I will be observing the Sabbath. No, I am not Jewish. I was raised in 6 different flavors of Christian, but seeing as my mantra for the year is “Trust God and Pray” it seemed like a practice to try out.

(Besides, I learned that the Sabbath according to the Torah, Bible, and Koran is on Saturday.  Christian's changed it to Sunday because, even though Jesus observed Saturday Sabbath, he rose from the dead on a Sunday; And Muslims changed it to Friday afternoons.) 

I believe observing the Sabbath is a lot like tithing when you don’t technically know where the money, or in this case where the time, is coming from.

I don’t know how I will accomplish all of my commitments while taking an entire day and night off from ‘work’. But you know what they say. . . start small.  Ha!

So where did this idea of observing the Sabbath come from? Well, I have been noticing that lately I have been justifying my fears as necessary “practicalities” (#JimCarrey). These “practicalities” not only actively demonstrate a lack of faith on my part, but they also leave me exhausted from anxiety and worn thin by what feels like an uncaring and non-compassionate environment. One that I must accept full responsibility for inserting myself into via my own mindset.  

In addition to all that stress, I now live 2 1/2 hours from my spiritual community and haven’t adapted my practice in a way that leaves me feeling engaged or fulfilled in my relationship with God.  Plus, I’ve been working non-stop since I moved.

Between my 40 hour a week job, moving and settling in, setting up all-new routines, and starting a blog site I haven’t really had much time to … rest and rejuvenate. Did I mentions I’m also working on healing PTSD? Yep, my plate is full.

Not to mention other things like getting my taxes ready, sorting through 95% of my clothing as I get ready to travel (possibly permanently), and researching “how to list and sell” all my clothing…. these have been daunting processes.  It would be overwhelming, but honestly, I haven’t been organized enough to get overwhelmed! I feel like Marlin (the anxiety-ridden dad) from Finding Nemo.  I just keep going out of a sense of extreme guilt, fear, and shame.  

Regardless, I think I have only taken 2 days of rest since the middle of December 2020. So here I am 10 weeks later and I am planning to intentionally take all day Saturday as a day of rest. It feels unfathomable, which seems like just the reason to do it.

From what I understand Sabbath means no work. Which means not working in the things you normally work in. For me, this means: my job, this blog, cleaning my space, yard work (other than watering because that isn’t work to me, but instead one of my joys). However, there will be no computer work, research, or social media.  

What I can do… study God’s word on paper, (I will not be opening my computer or using my phone for anything other then calls) pray, and journal, self-care activities and maybe some exercise or stretching, even reading for pleasure or sunbathing.  

Finally, I can do something I affectionately call “puttering”.  Where I allow myself to tinker in anything that catches my fancy, so long as it doesn’t take me into the previously mentioned work zones.  

I will report back on Sunday with my experience and observations.  

Sunday Report Back: 

I thought I would get bored.

I didn’t. 

I did put on my workout clothing but didn’t honor their use (I didn’t exercise).  Instead, I spent several hours with a dictionary, Holy Words book, and my journal… AND I learned something amazing. . .

I learned that God admires us, humans!!!

Seriously, I was raised never having once heard this.  It might have been said, but I just didn’t understand the concept of admiration as a young girl or woman.

Jesus loves you and/or God loves you, yes, but never, God admires you. That is a very important distinction. Especially as an adult who values character.

Why is this such an important distinction to me? Because my father loved me and he died (which to a 7-year-old feels like abandonment). 

My mom loves me but she is incessantly critical or negative. She also has a tendency of asking if I did the next step while I’m in the middle of finally celebrating having completed the last step successfully. So to me, love just didn’t sound all that compelling, juicy or supportive.

Yet, when I found out about God’s Admiration of us and about the nature of God… it made a lot of peripheral things make sense to me. I, like the follower of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, believe in some higher power. . . but sometimes the name of Jesus, or other overly formal names used by organized religion makes me want to turn tail and run.  

Yet, I have been chasing God/Source/Spirit for a while now and I have a deep desire to live a spirit first life.  But I don’t have to tell you there is a lot of contradictory information out there.  

The second thing I learned on by observing the Sabbath for the first time is the True Nature of God.  This is a critical thing to know because knowing the nature of someone is to know them personally.  

The nature of God is Universal Law. . . But it is also Love and it is also the Principle (Law) of Balance.  Each of these term can be used interchangeably.

I needed to dig deeper than this laundry list of terms. I found that everything that exists follows Universal Law/God.  Makes sense, right?  

Third, since love is the principle of balance and the principle of balance is love, Love would have to be both a feeling(soft) and a commitment(strict).

This story will help get you to the ah-ha of the principle of balance of strict and soft love.

Sally is a mom who loves to cook and her 3 year old son Jake loves to cook with her.  He often helps her make cookies, stir pots, and mix ingredients together. 

However, recently Jake has started trying to touch the burners on the stove when they glow hot.  

The first time Sally stopped everything, moved Jake’s helper-stand further away from the burner, and told Jake not to touch the red burner because it will hurt for many many days and if he does this she will not be able to make the hurt stop.  

Jake was good for a few days and then on reached for the burner again. Sally almost didn’t catch him this time.  And she was so startled that she yelled at little Jake instantly. This jolted Jake as Sally had never yelled like that before.  He cried. 

Sally took him out of the kitchen and sat him down and explained again why it was so important that he not touch the burner and had Jake apologize for being disobedient.  Thankful to be in his mom’s good graces, Jake happily apologized. But wasn’t allowed back in the kitchen for the day.

Several days later, Jake and Sally were in the kitchen together.  Sally had made sure to keep his stand out of reach from the stove.  When Jake finished stirring he asked to get down and left the kitchen. 

Sally went about finishing the meal but Jake came back in and reach for the stove from the floor when Sally’s back was turned.  When she turned around to find him just inches from the hot burner she slapped his little finger away from the flame with the wooden spoon in her hand.  

Somewhat shocked at what she had done and simultaneously relieved she set down her spoon, turned off the stove, and took shocked and wailing Jake to his room with an ice pack for his stinging fingers.   

Like Sally’s love for Jake, God loves us.

Yet it is important that love has two distinct parts.  Love has the tender and compassionate feeling side and it has the strict and disciplined committed side.  Just as Sally gave Jake both sides of her love for Jake’s growth and happiness.  So God gives us both the feeling side (grace) and the committed side (discipline).

Sally wanted Jake to grow up to be able to feel at home in the kitchen.  So he has the skills to care for himself as he grows up and moves away someday. This is something Sally does out of tenderness for her beloved son. 

Plus, it gives her great joy to observe his brightness and beauty and it fills her with awe and admiration to watch him learn and grow.  

Like Sally, God feel this way for us. We are his creations, his children and he sees for us to fulfill on our divine nature which requires both grace and discipline to develop; just as children do to become kind and capable adults. 

This is why when Jake reached for something that would hurt him, Sally made sure to protect him and teach him right from wrong. 

Right all-ways being things that will help Jake grow spiritually, mentally, and physically; and keep him from harm. 

Wrong all-ways being things that will keep Jake from becoming a healthy, happy, and prosperous man; and make him feel fear, hate, or anger. 

But when Jake is disobedient Sally guides him, teaches him, and eventually disciplines him. 

But Jake has free will.  

This means he can choose to trust Sally, or he can decide that he is jealous of her freedom to do as she wishes in the kitchen and he can rebel against her authority and wait till he knows he can get away with it and touch the glowing burner. 

Ultimately, it is up to Jake, how and when he will learn.  

Love is two parts which balance each other.  First, the sweet, tender and merciful part; called Grace. 

Second, the strict, disciplined, protective part.  

Which means, God who is love, is the Law of Balance. . . So anytime our experiences defy natural law, it is God making an exception and giving you grace.  

Ok.  So if God’s is Balance (in everything) and God Admires you… That is a God I WANT to know.  

Think about it.  Have you ever spoken with someone who admires you?  

It feels refreshing, flattering, welcoming, even uplifting.  

It inspires you and makes you want to rise to their view of you…to not disappoint them.  Admiration makes it easier to strive and rise. 

Intrigued, I wanted to know… How do I hear, see, feel, touch, taste, smell (perceive) God? 

I mean, if I am going to live a spirit-first life; I want/need to be in a relationship with God/spirit, right?!?  

How do you put someone first that I’m can’t see, hear, or perceive?  The answer is I can’t.  

The next thing I read blew my mind!  And thank God for that, because I’ve known for sometime that my mind has been getting in the way, but I’ve also been feeling powerless to change it lately. So I welcomed this mind-blowing piece of information.  

Here it is…You only have one step of training in life. . . Said another way. There is only one step to Spiritually Awaken.

Now before I tell you what that step is…again I want to give you a story so you can relate to it with clarity.

This step of training could be considered like learning to drive.  At first, learning to drive might seem like a lot of different actions. Unless you grew up on a farm, you had to learn a bunch of stuff before they would let you near a car.  Then there are the manual functions of the seat belt, pressing the brake, shifting the car, letting up on the break, lifting the turn signal, using your mirrors, etc., etc.  

There are seemingly a lot of steps.  But eventually, it becomes automatic and you may leave work and arrive home while lost in thought about something else and not even remember how you got home.  

Would you like to learn what it is?

The ONE thing you must do to Spiritually Awaken is Abandon and eliminate your feelings of hatred, jealousy, and anger towards others!  

To learn more about how…Check out my next blog. 

Why is this the one thing you must do to spiritually awaken? Because those negative feelings are like the hot stove burner. You have free will to choose to feel them, but in the same way that touching the glowing stove burner will hurt you and make you unhappy should you choose to touch it.  

On my first Sabbath I learned that:

That God Admires me (and you) is mind-blowing.

God is the universal law of balance (tender and strict love) and

To perceive God I must reject or abandon 3 negative emotions.

hatred

jealousy

anger

It has been an absolutely amazing experience as I reflect on it. I am left with new questions to help me step closer to pleasure, satisfaction, and prosperity.

“How do I (we) reject and abandon hatered, jealousy, and anger that?”

I did study this yesterday and the more I studied it, the more I realized it was just like driving.  It has a lot of small pieces that all fit together into one moving vehicle of which I am the driver in my life.

I’ll have to cover that in another blog. When it is ready you’ll be able to click here.  

Man! What a day!!!! So many questions answered in one day.  I am already taking baby steps into practice what I learned.  Whew! That muscle could use some work.

I’m starting to see how to choose new feelings…which all seem like divine timing, which I find very moving and very affirming. And the book George Edward Benson III recommended to me in our interview has helped with this.

So, all in all it was an absolutely wonder experience with wonderful outcomes. I wish I had heard of it sooner. I will be practicing Sabbath again. We will see how it continues to go.

What did you like about what you read here today?  

What are you taking away that is valuable to you?  

How can I continue to support you in your spiritual adventure going forward?  

Let me know in the comments below.  I truly appreciate your feedback.

Sending you love and light.  Please take a moment to send me love and light too.