Colleen's blog has a wonderful meme where we 'cease' and let God be to experience sabbath moments. There were a few times this week where I was able to just 'cease' and take in the moments the Holy Spirit was pouring forth in my life. They are as follows:
1) There were a few times where I was able to just read, grade and plan for next year's curriculum. Just being able to bask in the quietness and have time for reading and grading is a blessing to me.
2) Spending time with my four year old reading about baby animals. There is a delightful collection of children's books we have on baby animals.
3) The daily moments when my children and I read a passage from the Bible and discuss it. In one of the devotions it said, "The time we spend with God is far more precious to him than the things we do for him." Any thoughts on this statement? I thought it was interesting but do not know if it is so true - especially for busy mothers! I guess it can depend on what 'season of life' we are currently living in.
When I was an English instructor, I never thought of grading as a "sabbath moment" -- quite the opposite, in fact! But I'm glad you enjoy what you're doing.
ReplyDeleteI can see how reading to your 4-year-old could be a sabbath moment. You'll doubtless treasure those memories in years to come. :-)
I'm not so sure what to make of that statement about spending time with God being more precious to Him than what we do for Him. I gather from the Bible that both are extremely important. Our actions should be motivated and guided by our relationship with the Lord, but as the epistle of James says, "Faith without works is dead." So I'd say it's not "either/or" but "both/and."
I think the reason the first three Commandments are about our relationship with God is because the time we spend with Him really is more important than what we do for Him. Mother Teresa found a way to do both, but early morning adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and Mass preceded all her other activity. I think it is important to think this way no matter what our vocation in life is. Without a grounding in Him and carrying Him in our hearts the "doing" can become paramount and we can lose our reason for the doing and make it about ourselves.
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