Take Your Life Back!

We all know the commandment that God has provided to all of us that reminds us to keep the Sabbath day holy, but what does that mean to us now that Jesus has come.

We all know what the Old Testament reminds us what it was suppose to entail but does that still apply to us today?

I don't believe so in the same respect to the rituals that were from the Old Testament but I do know in today's fast paced world, we all need more time and definitely a break from our lives.

Dads and Moms that work more than a 40 hour work week in this economy in order just to make ends meet are wearing themselves ragged putting more hours in, working late, weekends and forgoing their vacations in search of the next promotion that might mean a break at last. But seriously who are we kidding. Won't that mean even more work?

We also are aware in the working world that employers expect far more than they did from our parents, With the fact that we are able to learn more, know more and do more, yet not be paid the equivalent of the rate it would take the average person to do that job, we are running ourselves in the ground. I say the world could do with less rats in this race.

What are we striving so hard to work for? I think we have lost the real reason why? Our kids want more time with us, but we feel guilty that we can't or we may get passed up in the process by a younger person who can do our job better than us. We pass up the opportunities to go home on time, because we think we will look better to companies who are willing to put the company first.

Yet if you were to suddenly find yourself out of work, the company won't miss us one day. They will move forward and not look back. So we need to stop defining ourselves by what our employers see in us. Jobs will come and go, but our families won't. Our kids grow up, wives and husbands married for a reason, that was to have someone to come home to at night, not to sleep in a bed and wait to see just how late you will come in today.

Keeping the Sabbath holy means to step away from what you would normally do on any given day. This means you decide which day you will celebrate Sabbath, it doesn't have to be Sunday or Saturday, you need to dedicate this day to God.

Separate yourselves from your daily routines. Take a break from it. Which means mix it up, spend some time doing absolutely nothing, enjoy life. Turn off all things requiring a plug and give them a day off. No checking emails, voicemails, TV or even cell phones. Give this day back to our families. Spend time really being present, not having your family staring at the back of your head. Really engage the person. Perhaps if you don't have kids this is the perfect day for a date night. Go back and doing something from your dating.

The point is to do nothing you would do normally. No errands if you run errands during any of the other 6 days, no housework if you normally do something during the week. No blogging, no talking to our negative people in our life. Take your dog out for a walk, talk with your neighbors, do some gardening and dig into God's earth and feel his creative powers.

I challenge you to take back the Sabbath and give it back to God. During the day, praise God for all His goodness, for everything going great in your life. I think you will agree, you will be so much more productive when you do and your relationships will ultimately benefit all the way around.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this! What does this mean for Kat? No blogging, no housework, no emails, or cell phones, emails or reading books. I am engaging with my family. Going on a picnic, taking a drive into the mountains, perhaps talking a walk on the beach. God promised us an abundant life, so I am taking mine back from this world and finding purpose in it.

How about you, what are you going to do to change?