I have a lot of friends who chose a word at the beginning of the year to serve as a theme for their learning and growth. I’m gonna be honest, I have mixed feelings about this practice.

On the one hand, I love the idea of an overarching theme that helps to shape the direction of your decisions and influence your goals. On the other hand, my personality is such that I really stress out over getting it *just* right. Seriously, I put so much pressure on myself. As such, I don’t always purposefully seek a word. This was certainly the case last year and it wasn’t until April that I selected a word at all. Maybe I’ll share that story some day.

This year, however, I had a pretty good idea what my word was going to be as we went into the New Year. After some prayer and quiet time before the Lord, I know this is the word that will be the theme for 2020. Here’s the word:

Sabbath.

At first glance, it might seem like appear to be a fancier way of saying “rest.” Sabbath is so much more than that, though. Here’s my working definition:

Purposeful rest within the rhythm of the work that God has prepared for me where remembering God’s goodness and faithfulness takes priority.

See, it’s much more than just taking a Sunday afternoon nap and eating ice cream. It’s more than just taking a vacation or doing something fun. Sabbath has a purpose.

In my definition of sabbath, that purposeful rest comes within the rhythm of work, but not just any work. It’s work that God has prepared for me. It’s not about staying busy or doing all the things just because. Part of what I want to work on this year is learning to say No to the things that aren’t the best use of my time or resources. I know I have a tendency to say yes to everything and everyone – mostly because I don’t like the idea of letting anyone down, but also because I hate the idea of missing out.

This habit of saying Yes to everyone and everything has led me to being overscheduled, overwhelmed, overtired, and overextended more than is healthy. This also leads me to being unable to truly rest because I’m constantly thinking about what needs to happen next to cross a few items off my To Do List. So part of this year is not just learning to settle into purposeful rest, but also learning to hone in on what work it is that God has for me to do.

The final part of my definition talks about “remembering God’s goodness and faithfulness” as being priority in the purposeful rest. Taking that glorious afternoon nap is so much more beautiful when I do it to the glory of God…and YES, you CAN nap to the glory of God. It’s so easy to get caught up in the hustle of life and forget the faithfulness of God. Honestly, it’s SO easy to quickly forget. It’s embarrassing, actually. So, part of sabbath is purposefully remembering what God has done for me – that I once was lost and now am found.

I don’t know what sabbath-ing will look like entirely for me this year. I do know that I want to incorporate sabbath into all of the rhythms of my life – daily, weekly, monthly, and even annually. I can tell you this, too – my purpose and goal is to grow in love and affection for the Lord as I learn to truly keep the Fourth Commandment.

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter or your male servant or your female servant, or your ox or your donkey or any of your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.

Deuteronomy 5:12-15

~Louise