Ireland and the Sabbath
She grabbed her suitcase to lay it on the hotel bed, taking everything out to refold items so she could make room for the souvenirs she bought that day. She did that every night for about an hour when it was time go to bed. It was 6 A.M. back in Ohio but in Ireland it was midnight, and I was tired. “Can you turn the light off and go to bed?” I asked her. But we were leaving the next morning to travel to a different city and she needed to get her belongings together.
My mom and I travelled to Ireland six months after my dad died. You know those trips you dream of? This was it. We went on a 10-day tour through Ireland. Hitting up eight different cities from Dublin to Tullamore. And on the way to each destination, our tour guide Steve took us to little cities in between. Steve was from the states and this was somewhere around his fortieth trip to Ireland. Out of all of his tours, he said Austria was his favorite country to visit. Before working for Collette Tours, he taught high school history. The history stories he told us while travelling provided a rich cultural experience and as our bus driver Damien drove hour after hour to our next destination, it was story time. Steve provided detail after detail on Irish culture, history and pub fights. The Irish are known for storytelling, but it’s questionable how many stories are actually true. Steve picked up a few extra stories along his many trips to Ireland and shared them with us.
It was a once in a lifetime kind of trip.
And we needed a little distraction in our life after the craziness we just experienced.
Six months before Ireland my world stopped. I watched people run circles around me living out their normal lives. I was just trying to peel myself out of bed to face another normal day while trying to make sense of the last five years. It felt like the longest, most exhausting season I ever lived and it was gone in a moment.
Oxygen machines. Ambulances. Emergency rooms. Hospitals. Long-term care units.
My dad was diagnosed with pulmonary fibrosis when I was thirty-one and the terminal illness part of the disease seemed really far into the future. Five years to be exact. If I’m ever around a crisis that involves an oxygen machine, I’m your girl. I learned a lot about those life-giving machines.
Life is exactly what those machines provide.
I’m currently recovering from tendonitis surgery on my left wrist and typing one-handed. I’m not good at doing nothing. So here I am. I had the right wrist done two months ago and have been gaining strength and less pain with the help of my occupational therapists, Cari and Georgia. They break up my appointment into three 20-minute segments. The first segment, I do a few different stretches with my thumb and wrist. Then we move into what I like to call activities – but they are really strengthening exercises. I usually have to pick up little cubes and move them back and forth between my fingers and my thumb or lift a one-pound weight 25 times. Yes I said one pound. I moved up last week from a half a pound. Booyah. For the last 20 minutes, they massage my wrist and hand to breakdown the swelling. It’s a painfully good massage.
It’s amazing to me after just four weeks of therapy, my wrist is less swollen and feels stronger. I am usually pretty good at being consistent and reliable, but usually when it comes to work or something I’m passionate about. My body is another story. Self-care is a new thing for me. And rest, what is that?
God has been teaching me a lot about rest and keeping a Sabbath lately.
Many cultures take time to rest. Not Americans but other cultures. They usually rest a few hours each day during lunch. They have lunch as a family and then take a nap for a few hours.
When I was in Syria the summer of 2010, all of the businesses closed during the afternoon and would reopen for the evening. It was literally 120 degrees outside so that was part of it. But they also went home to rest for a portion of the day.
Have you ever experienced 120 degrees? If you have dry skin like I do, 120 degrees will make your skin naturally moisturized from the amount of sweat your pours produce each day. You’re welcome.
It was actually 120 degrees for two weeks and then between 105 to 110 degrees the other month and a half I was there. The locals said that was the hottest summer in five years. Since Syria and after a few other summer mission trips I’ve gone on in recent years, I’ve realized that people still needed to hear about Jesus’ love during the winter months.
During my time in Syria, I got in the habit of taking two showers a day, until the daughter of the older couple I rented a room from knocked on my door one night and said I used all of the water in the house and her mother couldn’t do the dishes until the next day. Whoops.
Apparently, in Syria, once all of the water is used up from their water heater, there is no more water until the next day. I also broke their washer because I put too many clothes in it. Like I said, it was a sweaty summer and I was just trying to take care of myself. I don’t think I’m welcomed back to their home again.
In our fast-pace society, we have too many items to check off our to-do list to take time to slow down. God commands us to keep a Sabbath, right?
“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God … For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11
My pastor friend Daniel talked about how he keeps a Sabbath in Episode 2 on The Nice to Meet You Podcast. After ten years, he reached a point in ministry where he was burned out and hit a wall. That’s when he learned his priorities were not where they needed to be. Instead of constantly pushing through, he began taking a Sabbath. And his world changed. Since he’s a pastor and Sunday is a work day, he takes his Sabbath on Mondays.
I came to a place a few months ago that I no longer had a choice. I couldn’t push through the anxiety anymore. I hit that wall Daniel speaks of and I had to make a change. And once I slowed down, my world changed too. It was as if I had a life-giving oxygen machine attached to me.
I still had things to check off my to-do list. My circumstances didn’t change. I was in the heat of crammed summer classes.
I know that not everyone reading this is single with no kids like me. I’m not going to pretend to tell you how to take time to rest when you have littles at home. I don’t know. But, I do pray that somehow, this will still be an encouraging read for you. And thank you for taking the few minutes you have to read my journey on learning how to Sabbath. It is more appreciated than you know.
I’ve learned that Sabbath is a practice and the more you take time for it, the more you strengthen that area that has been lacking for so long. It was lacking in my life for sure.
It is just like consistently taking care of my wrists. Going to therapy. Applying ice. Doing stretches. Working out the tightness. Doing Sabbath strengthens my relationship with Jesus and renews my body, mind, and soul. Literally.
I always thought that line was corny. Body. Mind. Soul. But God made all three and they work together to keep us healthy and thriving.