down time

I have this notification on my phone that details my screen time, how much I look at my phone and for how long.  Since beginning Sabbatical, my screen time has decreased 13% each week.  I got to think about the what and the why of this downtime.  I believe it is a matter of distraction and attention.  This downtime of sabbatical has loosened my leash on what's important.  For example, instead of scrolling social media or my newsfeeds, I began reading real books again.  I am currently reading one of my favorite books, Steppenwolf by Herman Hesse.  This might be my 5th reading of this story.  When Sabbatical started becoming a reality, reading Steppenwolf on the porch with a cup of coffee was the picture in my head of what downtime might look like.  Although, I had imagined it much warmer.


There is this sense of productivity that I believe we all feel is demanded of us.  What are you going to do with today? With your life?  Downtime actually comes from the world of production, it is when machines or assembly lines are turned off, or when shifts end.  This is how antithetical it is for probably what God intends for us.  In the abiding/fruitful relationship, we can either rest from work or work from rest.  The mantra of many is made famous by a song in the 1980's, 'Everybody's working for the weekend.  TGIF was made with resting from work mentality.

As people of faith, we get caught in this trap of feeling of production demand too.  It might be a misreading of the Sabbath that brings us to resting from work.  We see that God ceased on the 7th day after God created everything.  So Sabbath becomes resting from work.  But God didn't stop creating, God continued to breathe life into the universe after everything was made.  Thus God continues to create out of this rest, this Sabbath.  Religious people get drawn into the legality of Sabbath....what day it is celebrated, what is allowed to be done, what isn't.  The pharisees drew a legalistic view of Sabbath to the degree that the challenged Jesus on healing or even feeding people on Sabbath.

27 Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. 28 So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” - Mark 2:27-28

Sabbath as a gift from God to meet the needs of the people might change how we understand the rhythm of our lives.  Look at the way calendars are made and it might tell us about how we are leashed.  If your calendar week begins on monday you might feel inclined to begin producing and then resting from this production or taking some much needed downtime.  OR if your calendar week begins on Sabbath you might be inclined to work out of Sabbath rest.