Musings on the Sabbath

(This week at the Liberal Religious Educators Association Fall Conference, keynote speaker Kim Stafford gave us through some writing exercises and reflections. After he read a selection to us from Rabbi Herschel's Sabbath, I wrote this reflection in my journal.)

Sabbath, not as worship but as rest. Spring does not come without winter. The field must be allowed to lie fallow. What if I did not meditate on a cushion, with legs folded under me and new age music (or silence - even harder to get in real life) in a world apart from my life? What if I meditated in my adirondack chair, with a cup of coffee on one arm? Gazing out over the field, bundled up against the cold, just sitting there? What if I allowed myself to just enjoy all that I have, not worrying if I am worthy of it or not, not worrying if I have done enough to earn this rest time, not worrying if others see it all as good or not. How amazing and free would that be? What if I just sat, not in a hermit's cave or on a mountain top, but here, now, amidst my life and all it's crazy messiness?

Related post: On Keeping the Sabbath

links to the words of others: No Shame in Stillness