The Most Impactful Resolution You’re Not Considering
Its that time of year again. The gyms will be more crowded, diet plans will hit record sales, we’re going to see a ton of #dryJanuary posts, and therapists will have their busiest month of the year.
Surely you’ve been tempted to jump on at least one of these bandwagons. And, to be clear, I am a fan of them all. I just want to bring another option to the table for your consideration: Sabbath.
I know, I know…its an outdated, archaic concept conjuring up images of excruciatingly long church services, boring time doing “nothing”, blue laws, and maybe even an Amish horse-drawn wagon or two. Truthfully, I can’t think of anyone I know who observes Sabbath regularly. Actually, that’s not quite true: I can think of two people (and I am not one of them…until —maybe—now).
I woke up this morning at 3am (anyone else?), my mind slowly churning at first, and then quickly picking up to a speed that would rival a champion pinball player. Nothing was really wrong, I was just in overdrive. No, overdrive is productive; it was more like when you rev your engine while in park: you burn lots of energy, but get nowhere.
After an hour of tossing and turning, I gave in, got up and made myself some tea and chose to see it as an opportunity for some quiet grounding time. And in that time (and it took all of that - desperation, no other way, and no distractions) I realized that I’ve been going too hard.
Jesus’ words echoed in my ears (and I paraphrase), “Sabbath was made for [humans], not the other way around.” Its an invitation. A gift. A “just trust me; its good for you.”
But, ugh. Who really has time for that? And, besides, surely I don’t really need something that extreme, right?
I recently started dabbling in a program called 75Hard. Its a mental discipline practice where, for 75 days straight, you work out twice a day for 45 minutes (and one of them must be outdoors), drink a gallon of water, take a progress pic, read 10 pages of a non-fiction book, and stick to a diet of your choice (no cheats, no alcohol). And if you miss any of those things, you go back to day 1. Super strict, no wiggle room.
Ugh. Who really has time for all that? And, besides, surely I don’t really need something that extreme, right?
Except, guys, its life changing. Just look it up and read people’s testimonies. I’ve only made it 17 consecutive days so far, and I have already felt its power. When we are disciplined about anything that’s good for us, revolutionary things happen in our lives. But start looking around; the truly discipled are few. Not at the gym, not in our kitchens, and not in our souls.
Some form of sabbath practice is part of the DNA of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and Sikhism. If major leaders from all of the world and time told me what to do to keep my body healthy, wouldn’t I heed their advice? Or at least keep it on the forefront of my “should” list? Absolutely. But regarding rest, stillness, surrender? It is so contrary to our natural tendencies that it doesn’t even make most people’s “should” list.
And that’s exactly why we (humans) need the structure of a commandment; without super strict, no-wiggle-room standards, 99.999% of us won’t do it. Not because deities want some kind of sick control over us, or because we have to jump through hoops to prove ourselves holy…no, because we desperately need it, and the wisest among us have realized that without intentionally incorporating it into our lives, we will crumble. Even if we try to kid ourselves. Even if others still sing our praises and adore us as super-productive, high-functioning contributors to the marketplace society. Eventually, we will crumble.
I can’t speak for you, but I’ve lived enough life the “normal” way to know that I want more. And I’ve lived enough to know that I need structure and discipline, or my days (and then years) become filled with the urgent at the expense of the important. And I’ve dabbled enough with Sabbath practice to know that, when I do it, its a beautiful, proactive way to stay grounded, running on the universal energy that sustains all things in an exponentially wiser way than I ever could on my own.
So, I’m still tweaking exactly what that will look like for me, in this season of life. And I invite you to seriously consider taking the bold, cultural, incredibly wise step of doing the same. Because its good for you.