"The Sabbath is an invitation to enter delight... it is not merely a pious day and it is not fundamentally a break, a day off, or a twenty-four hour vacation. The Sabbath is a feast day that remembers our leisure in Eden and anticipates our play in the new heavens and earth."
- Dan Allender in his book Sabbath
The pace of life can be browbeating - work, strive, drive, persevere, push through, excel, build, motivate, commemorate, innovate.
All the while the soul suffocates. Desires extinguished, delight postponed - duty calls, after all.
John Eldredge had this to say in his latest letter addressing such matters:
"You see, there is relief, and there is restoration, and they are not the same thing. Relief is falling on the couch at the end of the day with a bag of chips and zoning out in front of the TV. Restoration - Sabbath - is meant to be a time of rich delight, of ceasing labor so that we may enter into those things that bring us immense joy. And in so doing we find deep restoration for our souls. And our souls, dear friends, need deep restoration."
Taking this into consideration, Aron & I try very hard to protect our Saturdays as a day of Sabbath for our family (Sundays are completely exhausting for him). To pursue those things that restore our spirits and bring us joy & renewal.
This Saturday we decided we had to try the much raved about peach donuts at the Verellen Orchard in Romeo. The orchard stand was quaint, the fresh fruit abundant, the locals friendly, and the donuts to die for.
We stopped on the way to pick up the best of the best coffee to accompany our much anticipated breakfast. Belle had her very favorite, the $1 kids hot chocolate with lots of whipped cream!
The orchard overflowed with peaches, but Verellen couldn't keep up with the demand for their peach donuts - they were sold out by 10 am. Lucky for us, there were two in the back that were a tad too small to sell, and they gave them to us for free.
In the midst of the open fields, mingling among the dragonflies and bumble bees hard at work, we found, indeed, our Sabbath delight & restoration.
Isabelle could not wait to get into the fields and find the ripe berries to pick.
She had practice this week picking cherry tomatoes with Ms. Bernie and was thrilled to do it again!
My little Raspberry-Lovin'-Hunk-of-Love was in Berry Heaven. Chubby fingers to perfect mouth, Judah ate at a faster pace than I could pick. I didn't think I'd ever fill my quart with the raspberry bandit on my hip.
"Delight doesn't require a journey thousands of miles away to taste the presence of God, but it does require a separation from the mundane, an intentional choice to enter joy and follow God as he celebrates the glory of his creation."
- Dan Allender
May you enter joy this week.
May you follow God into his delight, his peace, his restoration.
ejk
3 comments:
YUM!
May need to try that out!
Owwe. I just left a long comment and accidentally erased it! Well, what did I originally say?
I appreciated this viewpoint on the Sabbath and loved the way you are enjoying and protecting it with your family. We are in a place now where we will have to make every conscious effort to do this as well. So, I am thankful for this insightful message about intentional delight and restoration in this day.
I loved all of the photos you posted, but especially liked the one of Belle reaching for love/fruit (my favorite!), the one of her dressed up pretty and posing near the fruit stand (she is growing up before our eyes) and the very last one (which seems to capture the spirit of the message).
Hoping the joy, delight and restoration of your Saturday Sabbath is filtering into your week too!
And don't forget to get you all some more peach donuts! Early!
loved these pics.especially the ones of isabelle. she looks like sheis having such a great time.glad you all had such a great saturday!are we gonna rethink our saturday tradition and make it peach donut saturday?LOL love you guys
Post a Comment