That pesky commandment

Sometimes one of the hardest things in life is saying just one little word. For some people, that word is sorry. For others, it is goodbye or please or help. For me, that word is no.
What follows this aversion to saying no is that I do not set healthy boundaries for my life. I become busier and busier until I am overwhelmed. It’s a chronic problem. I haven’t said no very much in life, which means my life has been really interesting and really exhausting all at the same time.
Recently, I began my doctorate, which is of course what logically follows the last paragraph. It is a doctorate in ministry in Leadership and Spiritual Formation. Our course work has included lectures on the sustainability of ministers in the ministry.
One of my professors asked what might happen if one of us, as a minister of the gospel, went before our church governing board and confessed that we were having just the slightest of problems with adultery (it didn’t happen all the time mind you, but it was becoming increasingly chronic). Or with murder (we had struggled to keep this in check, but once in a while, well, we just took someone out). Of course, the class laughed at the ludicrousness of the suggestion. Ministers don’t disobey the Ten Commandments.
That is, all except one. Indeed, most of us really only follow the Nine Commandments. It’s that pesky fourth commandment that we don’t take seriously. The commandment to keep the Sabbath holy.
Sabbath keeping is not really in vogue anymore. It has been replaced by image-keeping. Eugene Peterson writes, “I am busy because I am vain. I want to appear important…. I am busy because I am lazy. I indolently let others decide what I should do instead of resolutely deciding myself.” Ouch!
Jesus said, “What good is it for you to gain the whole world, yet forfeit your soul?” (Mark 8:36) My soul loses when I don’t keep the Sabbath. Sabbath keeping acknowledges that the world will continue to turn without my input. We remember that God is God and we are not, which is an important thing to remember. Sabbath is being quiet long enough to hear God’s voice beneath the myriad of siren voices that demand our attention. Sabbath means saying no to our insatiable need for busyness in order to be able to say yes to God’s best for our souls.
I am now in the process of repenting. Yes, it is a process. Just this week, I said no twice. It was quite an accomplishment.
How is God inviting you into Sabbath-keeping?