Why Is It So Hard to Sabbath?

Why Is It So Hard to Sabbath?

If God made keeping the Sabbath one of the Ten Commandments, why is it the one we seem most comfortable ignoring?

In this episode of Wine Into Water, we wrestle with one of the most overlooked practices in the Christian life: Sabbath. Why does resting feel so difficult? Why do we feel guilty when we're not being productive? And if God doesn't need our work, why does He care so much that we stop?

Together, we explore the tension between living in a culture that celebrates hustle and achievement while following a God who repeatedly invites us to slow down. We reflect on how easily our identity becomes tied to what we accomplish, and why taking a day to rest can feel more uncomfortable than working through exhaustion.

Looking at the stories of Creation, the Israelites in the wilderness, and Jesus' teaching on the Sabbath, we discover that this commandment was never simply about taking a day off. It's about trust. It's about freedom. It's about remembering that we are no longer slaves to productivity, performance, or the belief that everything depends on us.

Jen shares the irony of wanting her local grocery store to stay open on Sundays while admiring the faith it takes for Christian business owners to close their doors. Lydia reflects on the challenge of staying connected to work in a world where emails and notifications never stop, and together they wrestle with how modern life has made true rest increasingly difficult.

As the conversation unfolds, a deeper question begins to emerge: What if Sabbath isn't simply a gift God gave us? What if it's a reminder of what we were created for? Perhaps the invitation has never just been to stop working, but to return to the One we were made to be with.

Whether you've never practiced Sabbath, struggle to slow down, or simply feel exhausted by the pace of life, this episode is an invitation to consider that God's command isn't another burden to carry. It's an invitation to delight, to trust, and to remember that His love—and His provision—were never dependent on your productivity.

Because maybe the deepest rest we long for isn't found in doing less.

Maybe it's found in being with the One we were made for.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Sometimes we pray for the miracles. We wait for the breakthrough, the healing, the answered prayer. And when it doesn't come, when life feels ordinary, heavy, or quiet, we wonder if something is wrong. We read about water turning into wine, but most of us are living in seasons where it feels like the opposite, where the celebration fades and the glass feels empty. Where faith isn't dramatic, it's dishes in the sink, laundry that never ends, prayers whispered into the silence. But what if the miracle was never the point? What if what we're really longing for isn't the wine, but the living water? The presence of Jesus in the middle of the Monday. The abundance that doesn't depend on circumstances. This is a podcast for seasons that feel unmiraculous. For the questions we carry quietly. For the faith that keeps showing up, even when nothing changes. Welcome to Wine in to Water. I'm your co-host, Jen Asplin. And I'm your other co-host, Lydia Rosencreen. We're two women who have been asking questions, nobody seems to be answering. Questions about faith and seasons when life can feel unmiraculous.

SPEAKER_02 1:22

And we kept having these conversations, just the two of us, and we realized we can't be the only ones who are asking these questions.

SPEAKER_01 1:30

So we decided to invite you into the conversation. We're so glad you're here.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

Today's question is one I think that we've wrestled with maybe on the fringes of in some of our other episodes. And certainly it's one that you and I have talked about in our conversations multiple times. But it's the question of the Sabbath, of keeping the Sabbath, right? And um it's like when I think about it, it's the only commandment that we not only seem as a society to, or it's Christians, um, that we seem to ignore, but we actively break, right? Like we choose to break. Um and so I'm, you know, I when I stop and really think about it, it's like, oh my gosh. Like none, you know, most of us would would say, well, I'm not killing and I'm not stealing, and I'm not, um, maybe I try not to covet or I don't commit adultery. I'm not, you know, certainly not purposely setting up gods before God. Um, so I think most of us, even though we know we're no longer under the law, we still try to keep the Ten Commandments, except when it comes to the Sabbath. And so I thought it might be interesting for us to explore today. Why is that?

SPEAKER_01 3:04

I think it's a good one. And I think you're right. Like you you look at the list and you're just like, yep, I like pretty much agree. Those are things that I should or should not be doing, right? Like they feel very common sense and or that they like fit into the world that we live in today. And I think part of it is we live maybe in a time, maybe in a country, maybe in a society where like being productive is highly praised and sought after. And for a lot of us, like our careers were built on being very productive. Our households run on us being very productive, and so it feels like maybe a part of it is like, oh you, like you meant that for the Israelites. Like you meant that when Moses was alive. But if if you knew what the world today required, like surely, like we're we're different now, right? Yeah, it's different time. But I think like that's what we that's like what we do with scripture, right? With the things that make us maybe uncomfortable. And so we're just like, oh, like, but that one doesn't like apply anymore to us.

SPEAKER_02 4:44

Yes, I think that that I definitely fall into that trap, Jen. And um like I had a um, I had a boss who kept the Sabbath, right? Who really tried, you know, someone in a very high leadership position who deliberately said, I'm not working on Sunday. Um, but that didn't mean that everybody else in the organization followed that, right? And so I would have people who needed things approved, like travel arrangements that needed approval, like on a Sunday, um things would come up and I would, you know, feel like I needed to be on my email, I needed to be available. And I definitely think that we are in an era, and this was, you know, working at a a Christian um, you know, at a Christian a place that that was a faith-filled place. But I think that there's we have definitely developed this expectation that Sunday is just kind of another day where, I mean, maybe we don't go to work, but now that we can check emails and all the time, and now that we have cell phones and such, there's there's not this, it's not as easy to say, I'm not going to break this today, right? Like I'm not gonna answer this email or do this thing that my person needs me to do. Um and I think that we have gotten it wrong in the opposite way that the Pharisees got it wrong, right? And and um, you know, when I think about what Jesus was dealing with when he talked about the because he broke, you know, he broke the Sabbath in that he would violate the rules that the Pharisees had built around the Sabbath, right? Like the man-made rules that they had tried to put into place to make sure that nobody worked on a Sunday, right? They they created these um really interesting things, like you couldn't carry firewood, or you I think you couldn't even build a fire on a Sunday, right? Or I'm sorry, on the Sabbath Jewish Sabbath is different than than Sunday. Yeah, so let me say that. Um and so he was trying to get them to realize that that was not that was not what God meant, right? And then we've kind of gone the opposite way where it's kind of like, uh, what is the Sabbath really anyway? Um and and do I really need to rest? Um, there's so much to get done. And who's gonna, who is gonna build a fire and who is gonna do the cooking? And who is good, you know, who's gonna, there's there's things that have to be done. I don't know. I feel like it's it's one of those areas where you can fall off either side of it so easily. And I think we've done that.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

I think that's right, both societally and personally. If if you're, I don't know, anything like me. So um John Mark Comer's ruthless elimination of hurry, he sabbaths with his family. And by that I mean no technology. They get up and make waffles with every topping that you could imagine on them. They lounge around as a family and read books, they go for a walk, they go to worship, but like their whole day is oriented around rest and community and like presence with God. And I remember reading it and thinking, wouldn't that be so lovely? If that, if that's really how you spent your Sabbath with your family. Like, what a beautiful way to spend a day a week. And in the next thought, thought, I could never do that. I could, I, I could never do that. Like my life would not allow for that. And so I fall to like the other side, which is I I live on the edge of humanity in Iowa, like beyond us is cornfields. And so there's like a small market grocery store, a fairway that's like walkable from my house and it's has everything that you need. Love it. Reynolds Kramer, who runs it, is Christian. Fairways are closed on Sundays. Do you know when I do my grocery shopping? Sundays. I get my food for the week on Sundays, so I'm gonna deal with it on like the Monday through Friday craziness of our family. And there is a part of me that is severely annoyed. The other people aren't working on their Sabbath so that I can get my groceries. Even though, like, I am a Christian, I should be Sabbathing. And it's not just like societal expectations are like I can't shut my own stuff off, right? It's like, how dare they not be open on Sundays? Like, I love them, but I need groceries on a Sunday. Um, and so I for me, it is one that I wrestle with deeply. And I was as I was looking back um at Exodus and Deuteronomy and understanding like, why on earth did God command the Sabbath? And like two things came up in the reading that I think are notable. One was that he practiced it before he commanded it. Like when you think about the creation story, like on the seventh day, God rested. Yep. And y'all, I don't think it's because he was tired. Like, I don't think God gets tired. Nope. But because like the work was complete, right? And so that kind of stuck with me. And then more than anything, which is maybe more applicable to our day-to-day lives, is it was trying to teach the Israelites that they were no longer slaves. Yeah. Because slaves produce, slaves don't rest, slaves are only valuable when they are useful. And I think about how much that reflects us today of the things that we enslave ourselves with when all God wanted us to be was free.

SPEAKER_02 11:50

Well, there's a lot of powerful truth in everything you said, Jen. Um, you know, I heard convenience, right? For sure. Like everybody's, you know, uh this is when it works for me. So everybody needs to get on board. Um, like of course, what's the day you want Chick-fil-A the most, right? It's always on a Sunday. Always. Always always. Um And then certainly God did, you know, He did practice it and He did, he did command it after they came out of slavery, right? And I agree, I think you're right. I think it was to it was to help them separate from that identity even further, right? That that you get this day. And I, you know, I also when you think about those first Sabbaths, um he also didn't provide manna on that day, right? And so it it's a it's also a it's it's a day that you get to rest, which I think is a gift that we don't give ourselves. A lot of us don't. Um but it's also it's also a way that God calls us to faith. Um because if I'm not being productive, if I'm not working, if I'm not earning, if I'm not, you know, there is a faith behind that that says, God, I I trust you that I could I can rest and you're going to take care of me. Like I don't have to take care of myself 24-7. I can rest as you've commanded and you will provide. I'm not gonna lose out on this or that or whatever it is. I don't have to grasp because you are a God of abundance and not a God of scarcity. And I think you and I have joked, we may have joked in another episode, or it may just been when we were talking, but like if if we had been the Israelites in the wilderness, we would have been trying to collect manna on the Sabbath, right? We're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 14:05

We God will provide and I will still hustle for manna. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 14:13

Absolutely. And so I think there's it like we could do, I feel like we could do countless episodes on the Sabbath, right? Because I think God uses it to teach us so many different things about who we are and who he is. And I think it's a whole lot bigger than I answer emails on Sunday.

SPEAKER_01 14:40

Uh part of what I was thinking about in your Chick-fil-A example, which is actually like the all probably the better thought I have about my lovely grocery store. How hard must it be in a world that is obsessed with growth and profits to choose to close for a whole day when most people, I don't think I'm alone in shopping for groceries on a Sunday. Um, right? It's like when the grocery stores are the craziest. Like I do not go to Trader Joe's on the weekend because it's crazy. Sure. And to be in that business and to say, nope, not just because I'm faithful, but because my business doesn't rely on me working. Like God's got it. We're called to rest, like we're going, we're going to rest. I think you're right. Um that it says something about our trust or lack of trust in him. This like never having enough of everything, emails or social media, or Priscilla Schreiber did like a book called Sabbath, and she has this video, and her thing is belts. And so she brings out this hanger with like, I don't know how she lifted it, like sucker had to have like 75 belts on it. And she's just like, My thing is belts. Like, maybe for you it's dessert or shoes or a substance or a raise or more money, like figure, like whatever your thing is. Like, we've all got our things, right? Yes. Um, hers is belts, which was like a great visual. But I think her point was, which is maybe where you were going, which is like at some point it's enough. Like you can never have enough of something you never really needed in the first place. And I feel like the Sabbath is such a reminder of like, it's enough. Like, I will provide you enough. Can you trust in that? Can you rest in that? And it is one that is repeatedly the hardest for me to like let go and be obedient in.

SPEAKER_02 17:20

Yes. And I think part of that is again going back to the society that we live in, right? It's it's not only not discur, it's not discouraged for us to work, it's actually encouraged, I think, for us to work, right? So it's not one that we're gonna like if we're stealing, we're eventually we're gonna be discouraged from doing that, right? But um but working is not something that we're typically discouraged from doing. Yeah. And so um but I also think I think there's a a feeling, or at least, you know, maybe maybe this is just me, but I this feeling that it's not a commandment that we take real seriously, right? It's like if we um obviously there's some that are laws that are, you know, man-made laws that we have to follow, like not killing and and not stealing. Um, but even this some some that are not against, you know, our man-made laws that we still take very seriously, like not putting another God before um our Lord and not taking his name in vain. I mean, I think we as Christians take those very seriously. But the one about the Sabbath, it's kind of like, yeah, it that's a nice to have. But God, I I think that we don't understand how seriously God takes it. And there's a verse in Ezekiel, Ezekiel 20, where God actually the Israelites are getting ready to go into exile or they've gone into exile. Um, and he actually calls out their lack of keeping the Sabbath as the reason that they're going into exile. God takes it way more seriously than we take it, I think, as his people. And I again, I'm I'm being very general here because there are there are certain denominations that take it extremely seriously. There are certainly people out there, and then we may have listeners who are very diligent about keeping the Sabbath. I'm simply talking about is is American Christians in general and American society in general. Um, I don't think it's one that we we seem to think that God's real serious about. He's real serious about it.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Um he's real serious about it. What do you think what do you think the reason behind that is? Why do you think he's so serious about it?

SPEAKER_02 19:55

I think it goes back to what you were saying about the trust, right? It is it's it's one of the ways that we show God you are God and I am not, and I recognize your place and your role and who you are, and I recognize my place and my role and who I am. And by being willing to go against what the world says I should be doing as a business person, or um, you know, by saying, I'm going to give up whatever I could have earned on this one day, or whatever I could have gotten done, or um what the post that might have gotten the next client for me, or whatever, by saying, Lord, I'm gonna all of that is it's not bad stuff, but I'm gonna surrender it and put it below my love for you and my trust in you. And I'm gonna trust that you're gonna take care of me. And so I think it's um it's one of those things. The Sabbath is one of those ways that we show God who we believe He is. And when we don't take it seriously, I I think it gets that relationship a little off kilter about who's on the throne and in our hearts. Um so I think that it is actually a lot more weighty than we see it most of the time.

SPEAKER_01 21:39

I th the other thing is like you read the commandment, right? Is keep the Sabbath and make it holy.

SPEAKER_03 21:53

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

And so that's maybe like the other thing that's rattling around in my head. So we I had this conversation at a Bible study, and we were talking about napping. And I love napping. If I could nap every day for 20 minutes, I would be such a happier human. Um, but about how on Sundays we had some nappers in the group, and they were like, I literally do not care what my family does. Like, mama needs a 45-minute nap. And the thing that I was thinking about as we were having that discussion was like, but it doesn't just say to rest. That's right. It says to make it holy, set apart, dedicated to God. And I think we maybe shortchange that when we reduce it down to well, I'm gonna take a nap. I'm gonna go to church and I'm gonna take a nap, and I have Sabbath. Right? But I think the point is yes, to trust him, but also to be reminded of like to like delight in him, in his creation, to worship, like to be reminded of his like ridiculous kindness to us, that like we would even get to like be here and have breath in our lungs and air we could breathe and families that we've created that sometimes drive us crazy. But like he's given us all of these things and he delights in us having them. And he just wants us to like remember that, I think.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

It's so interesting that you use the word delight, Jen, because another scripture that I found was Isaiah 58, and it says, If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight.

SPEAKER_03 24:19

Hmm.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

Isn't that interesting? So God calls it a delight, and He desires that we call it a delight, right? So um I think that's part of what the Pharisees stole with all of their you know, minute little things. Like imagine walking through the Sabbath and just and and all you can think about is, oh my gosh, did I take too many steps? Did I, you know, did I did I just tie for I wasn't supposed to tie, right? Like, I mean, um, there's certainly no rest in that, and there's certainly no delight in that, right? And so I think that's part of why Jesus was so angry um with that. But I don't um, but I'm not sure we delight in it either. We may see it as, well, it is a commandment, so I guess I should do it. Fine, you know, um like almost begrudgingly. Yes. And I think in in some ways, the Sabbath is very much like giving, right? It's it's God calls us to be cheerful givers. I think he wants us to be cheerful sabbathers as well, right? Like it all belongs to him, whether it's our money or our time. And so I think just as we're called to tithe, be not again because God needs it, because he does not need it. It's all his to begin with. He can take it whenever he wants, right? But when we tithe, we honor him, we we um thank him, and we remember who provides for us. But I think sabbathing, if that's a word, it is now, is is just, I mean, it's it's it's it's tithing our time, right? And we're supposed to be cheerful and delight in both. And I'll be honest here, Jen. I do not always delight in tithing, and I do not always delight in sabbathing. There are definitely times that I do both because I'm like, well, God said I need to do this, so I'll just do it. Um, and I don't necessarily have that heart of delight that I and I really, really wish that I did, but I'm just I'll be honest. And I imagine there's some of our listeners who um don't always take delight in those two things either.

SPEAKER_03 26:55

Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 26:58

What I'm thinking about is with that frame, it almost feels like the Sabbath was created for us to get our heart posture right toward God in the same way that tithing gets our heart posture realigned to God. But I wonder if it's actually the inverse of that. Okay. What if like the Sabbath was not made for us? What if we were made for the Sabbath? There's this hear me out. Yeah, yes, I I'm gonna totally hear you out. So there's there's this line in one of Phil Wickham's songs that saw that's talk, it's like his homesick for heaven song. That song. But there's a line in it when he says, I was made to be with you. And I think maybe part of it is we think that God has given us this gift because it was made for us. And I just wonder if part of it is like a reminder that like we were made for, like, we were made to Sabbath, we were made to be with him, yes, and maybe that's part of why it is in the commandments in this reminder of like, I made you, and all I want is for you to be with me, and all of these other things will turn your heart against me, it will harden your heart, it will make your life like please, like, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not kill someone, right? Like, nothing, nothing good is going to come of that for you or the people involved. And we've lived enough life to know that that is true.

SPEAKER_03 29:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:21

But this is really the only command that he says, like, be with me. Just one day a week. Put all the rest of it away and just rest with me. Not because I need rest. You probably do, humans running around striving and productivity centered. Like, you probably also need a rest. But I don't like I don't think that's the rest he's calling us into. And it's literally like come closer, like come come spend time with me.

SPEAKER_02 30:10

I think that um I I definitely think that there's truth in that. And there's been several episodes where you've said something similar, Jen, and I spend a lot of time thinking about that between our times together. Um God doesn't need anything from me. He just wants me to be with him. Like whatever I'm doing, he's fine. I, you know, I think we all I think it was maybe the one we talked about where, you know, what is God's will? Like, how do I know what God's will is? And we we go around and we're like constantly, like, oh my gosh, is this your will, God? Is this your will? And what if he's not so worried about what we choose to do work-wise or you know, whatever it is, as long as we're choosing to do it with him, he gives us free will, he gives us the ability to make decisions and choices, right? Um, but in that, he wants us to do it with him, right? He wants to be with us. Um and so that that makes me wonder if there's we have in some ways the ability to Sabbath all the time. It's you know, it's not it doesn't just have to be Sunday, because that's the day that we've said as Christians, you know. Um, and I don't think there's anything wrong with having a day, because he does say, you know, that the Sabbath is a day. When he's when he he finished his work, it was a day, right? So I don't think there's anything wrong with that. But I think that we could be Sabbathing. I don't know when when I made that a verb. Um, we could be keeping the Sabbath with him. I could be doing that, we could be doing that right now while we're doing this podcast, right? And I hope that we are. Um I could be doing that on my drive home today. I could be doing that when I'm cooking dinner, I could be do that when I, you know, when I'm doing laundry later, whatever it is. If it's more of a heart posture than a body posture, then it it could be a nap if I need a nap, and I don't, you know, but it could also be I'm clean in the kitchen, but I'm still Sabbathing with him.

SPEAKER_01 32:56

I think you're right, it's a heart posture. Because there's plenty of things that you could be doing, and maybe that was Jesus' whole point with healing on the Sabbath.

SPEAKER_03 33:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:10

Right? Like he was not healing on the Sabbath to spite God or in spite of God or to break a commandment. His heart posture was like, if someone needs help, then we're gonna help him. And like God would always want you to help his children. Um, and maybe it's like the overall example Jesus set with his life, right? Where he was constantly in prayer, slowing down, loving people, walking with his father, um, and how often we get distracted in our walk because life's busy and we gotta be productive and we got all these things going on. Um and not that any of the things are bad. We've come back to this a couple of times, but it's like it's the heart posture, which is I like I think again and again about the way King David is described as like a man after God's own heart. Um, and I just think like that's all he wants. He just wants your heart. Want you to be with him. And you're right, I think you could do that anytime. I can't remember which religious figure it was, but I was reading about it in a book and he was going to speak somewhere, and they had set up like a room in the back for him to pray in before he went on stage. And his like chief of staff or assistant or whatever was like, Oh, he won't be needing that. He's been praying since he woke up this morning. He prays all day long. And I was just like, Yeah, that's available to us. Absolutely, and not only like do we not take advantage of that, but we're like a whole day, a whole day, God, I got things to do.

SPEAKER_02 35:04

And and God's like, Yes, go do them. Like they're from me. I gave them to you, but just do them with me, right? Like, I mean, that's it. I don't think he's saying, yeah, um, you know, I think it goes back to Mary and Martha, right? Like we we see that as an we we see that we have to be Mary or Martha, right? Like we have to make a choice. We either get all the things done that we have to get done or we sit at the feet of Jesus and soak it in. And Jesus said we should be soaking it in, but then who's gonna be doing my laundry and my cleaning and my cooking and dropping the kids off and all the things that I have to do? And that's not what Jesus was saying, right? He said that Martha was distracted. And he, it's like you can do all of those things and still be undistracted. You can be doing them with him, right? I think is um I think there's a lot there that I need to, I need to think about a whole lot more than I do because I'm so, so, so easily distracted.

SPEAKER_01 36:06

And I think that's part of it. I also think to like the point that you've beautifully made, it's not about rest from the work, it's about him wanting us to have this freedom from the belief that everything depends on us. Yes. Like, girl, you don't gotta hustle for the mana. Like, I got you. Yep.

SPEAKER_02 36:40

It would have I would have been scared by the lack of mana on on the Sabbath, I think, right? Like I would have um like, oh my gosh, we're not gonna get any mana tomorrow. What are we gonna, you know? There's plenty today, and we can, you know, this is the one day we get to gather and save, and we, you know, but I it's almost it's like Chick-fil-A's not gonna be open tomorrow. The Girch's store is not gonna be open tomorrow. Ah, you know, we've um I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I want everything to be available, and I want, you know, and it it's okay if it's not, he's gonna take care of it, he's gonna provide the mana will be there. Um it's definitely, I mean, so much of what we talk about, I know, goes back to scarcity and abundance, Jen. And we've talked about that so many times. But that is such that it I live in scarcity, a scarcity mindset, so much more than I want to, than I need to. Like, he has never once let me down, Jen. Not one time has he let me down. And I still worry that the next time he's going to. I'm just gonna be honest about that. I still think in my head, of course, yes, I know I can look back, right? And that's part of the reason I think God says remember, right? Like we're so forgetful. I can look back and see that he's never once let me down, and I can still worry that he's gonna let me down the next time. And that is my scarcity mindset. It's like, I bet there were Israelites who thought, yeah, the manna's always there's always been enough manna on Friday night for us to gather for the Sabbath on Saturday. But what if this time there's not? Right? I I there had to be some folks who thought that. All right, what if it doesn't come the next day? Like what if it what if tomorrow it does? I mean, you could literally think that every single day as an Israelite dealing with manna, right? What if tomorrow it's not there? What if tomorrow it's not there?

SPEAKER_01 39:03

I have a thought and I went away. I don't know what I was gonna say. Um, oh so the song the Lord will provide. There's a line in that that's like, I I don't even know what comes about in front of it, but the line says what tomorrow will bring. And every time I'm singing that song in my car, I want it to say what tomorrow may bring. Not what tomorrow will bring. And it's so interesting to me how sometimes in my worrying, I somehow think that the worrying or anxiety or stress or like whatever is gonna change some outcome that I have zero control. Right? And so it's a reminder every time I hear it, like I can't control what's going to happen tomorrow. But never once has he like not provided what I needed in extravagant abundance. Yep. And so, like those heart postures, whether it is the worry or the anxiety or the scarcity or like whatever, right? They're all rooted in fear. Yes. And it's it's the way that our brains were wired to like protect us from saber-tooth tigers. But I think it's also why the most repeated command in the Bible is do not be afraid. And it's almost like a whisper of like, but there's more, like, there's better. You are free, and I've got you. Like, do not enslave yourself to the things of this world, including shopping for groceries on Sunday afternoons when the grocery store is closed.

SPEAKER_02 41:13

You said something when you talked about that um way back when you first introduced the grocery store, and you basically said this doesn't fit my life, right? And I thought that was so profound because I think that there all of us want things to orient around how we want them and at the in the timing that we want them, and um that is just so human. And so it's like, well, I'll fit the Sabbath in when it's convenient, or um I think that the Sabbath reminds us to reorient ourselves around him. And I need that because I so easily fall into the trap of wanting everything in the world to reorient around me. And my what I want, right?

SPEAKER_01 42:29

That is said much better. And what I meant by the Sabbath wasn't made for us, we were made for the Sabbath.

SPEAKER_02 42:48

We were made for God and this is just one way that we reorient ourselves around our center. Jen, you've given me a lot to think about today.

SPEAKER_01 43:15

Same. I was just thinking, I'm gonna have to sit with this one for a minute.

SPEAKER_02 43:21

Like, I don't know, we may need a part two on this one. Um This has been this has gone in a lot of unexpected, I mean, we never know how this is gonna go. So listeners, we don't script any of this except the question before we actually talk. So we never have any idea which way God's gonna take the conversation. Um this one I definitely could not have predicted.

SPEAKER_01 43:55

We meandered a bit. But I think we landed where we were supposed to be. I think so. I think we did. All right. I'm gonna say a prayer over our listeners before we sign off.

SPEAKER_00 44:14

Yeah. Hmm.

SPEAKER_01 44:18

Lord, thank you for the gift of the Sabbath, not just as a rest from work, which Lord, if we're being honest, we do need that too, all of us. But Lord, as a reminder that you made us and that we were made to be where you are. And Lord, in all of the messy and imperfect ways we try to stay obedient to this commandment. And Lord, all the times we laugh it away, it's not a thing that is real. Lord, remind our hearts that it is. As our listeners go about their week, may they find you in the midst of it. May they find your rest and may their hearts turn towards you because that's what they were made to do. Lord, I asked you to be a child how we are back again, and that you would continue to bless them in their lives, that they would see you in the midst of their visit and be reminded of that.