Not because I have it, but because I’d like more of it.

John Mark Comer has a chapter in his book “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” about the Sabbath. Once I read it, I saw the logic of it pointed out in so many places and by so many people I started accumulating their quotes.

He points out that there is a reason it is a commandment. There’s value for us in observing it. How quickly we can become slaves to things we aren’t even aware of. In OT times, slavery looked as we picture it. Brick by brick. In Mod times it can be shopping, social media, hurry, busyness, accumulation, etc. that keep us from this form of rest. Rest, as a day of creation, is built into the very rhythm of life. There is a syncopated beat. And, that rest is an invitation to delight, reflect and revere creation.

I’m far from a sundown to sundown piety, nor am I Jewish, but I see the sabbath show up when I’m looking for it, and sometimes even when I’m not. When those simple times happen, I want to recognize them as such. Give thanks for them. When I can see sprouts of the sabbath popping up in my contemporary life, I call it a Mod Shabbat. And the more I see of it, and share of it, maybe the more I can build it in to have more of it.