Last week Tom was humble and generous enough to give an honest post about how he’s experiencing refinement in this season. He’s correct that it is definitely busy and difficult (did I mention our car got broken into in front of our house on Monday w/ over $2,000 of electronics stolen?). Yet we know that this difficult module at school is 6 weeks long and then the load will lighten. We also know that in learning how to choose a life of mission- being sent by God to bring faith, hope, and love to our neighborhood, the task is not without resistance from an enemy who prefers darkness over Light. And we know Light wins in the end even if we take some hits along the way. So we live in that tension but are encompassed in faith and hope for the story that’s being written. As I’ve been reflecting on the two words busy and difficult this week God is teaching me and showing me more. So I will share some with you.
A Word on BUSY
I had a friend recently give me a beautiful note about how she’s been reflecting on Proverbs 31. As I went back to the passage, one of the first things I noticed was how busy and active is this picture of woman, wife and mother. The passage does not compel me to justify an overly busy life, but actually to ponder the mystery of Sabbath. In Exodus 20 (those 10 Commandment things) God says, ”Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day...
In the Old Testament there is an overall rhythm of life- of rest and work, set in motion first by God’s commandments and carried through faithful generations (hit and miss on a few). There were 3 festivals each year (at least) that broke up the usual rhythm of work with feasting and celebration (Ex 23:14). Then there was also the Year of Jubilee every 7 years (Ex 23:10-13) that was a whole year of not working so the land and those working it could rest. The poor/marginalized could also catch a break by getting to have whatever comes up in the unworked/unplanted fields. So when God, in the Old Testament was showing, through the commands and rules of the culture how to set up a life that works, he built into the DNA of their culture a variety of ways in which they would stop, rest, and remember.
We feel busy, and Tom feels crazy trying to get through a particularly tough module of grad school. In asking if there are things we should start or stop, I’m compelled to more fully commit to and protect the points of stability and rest in our lives rather just try to be less busy. There’s a difference in working hard for things that matter to you and working hard because you can’t say no based on “shoulds & oughts”. I’m also compelled to think that the woman in Proverbs 31, because we can assume she was Hebrew, had points of stability and rest structured into the day, week, and seasons through the year. I’m more and more convinced that the way we rest determines the way we work. So cool to look at Proverbs 31 AND the command of Sabbath (Exodus 20) together to see the whole picture.
In thinking of The Page’s rhythm, these are the three parts of our life that allow us to work hard like we see in Prov 31:10-28 for six days a week and be sustained through new types of difficulty:
1. Daily: Breakfast/reading in mornings
2. Weekly: Sabbath* every Sunday (all day but w/o negotiation 12p-6p) + Friday nights = no plans w/ people (for me given I have an extroverted job)
3. Quarterly: Vacation in July (a.k.a Feast & Celebration)
(This hasn’t been w/o some trial and error. We have had Sabbath meltdowns as we determine how Sabbath works best for each of us. And we’re not up as early as we want some days, but we’re working it out)
It’s not that we’re not going to be glad when some of the new wears off and school is less difficult or OVER, but there’s no guarantee there won’t be something more difficult ahead. So yes, it’s busy, but it is not without thought and intentionality in how we build a sustainable rhythm of life. We take this seriously because we want to be actively, passionately, and deeply growing in a missional life 50 years from now, so NOW is the time to build sustainability.
*Sabbath guidelines I try to abide by from Mark Buchanan in The Rest of God: 1) Do nothing that you ought to and 2) do only what gives life.
A Word on DIFFICULT
As I was thinking about why every piece of our dense life feels wobbly right now I see perhaps it’s because each part of our dense life is a seedling (not yet to flowering size). We’ve both been through recent seasons of abiding where I believe was when God was preparing the soil of each of our lives.
We planted vegetables in our neighborhood community garden within a few weeks of moving in/getting married. The day after we planted there was a strong storm that ripped the leaves off most of our plants. The seedlings couldn’t withstand the storm. But, they had a modest root structure that allowed most of them to recover quite nicely.
The realization that almost all aspects of my life are in the seedling phase offered a lot of hope to the feelings of difficulty in this season. I mean come on. We’ve been married for 3 months, we’re leading a new missional community meeting in our new house in our new urban neighborhood. Tom has new (hard) classes, new clients at new practicum sites and I have a new job with all new relationships in an area of dietetics that is new to me (learning all about how to get toddlers to eat these days).
And so in a life that feels like rows of seedlings, wobbly and windblown I am doing my best to keep in plain sight the potential and the promises of what seedlings become rather than see the seedlings as not yet enough, not yet mature, not yet the dream, not yet a fruit producing plant, not yet this or not yet that. The reality is…. the soil has been prepared and we’re growing!
Anyone know how to keep the Squirrels away without chemicals?
