Sabbath and the Practice of Saying 'No'

In Barbara Brown Taylor's book, An Altar in the World,  she reveals ways to discover the sacred in the small things we do and see by participating in various practices.  As we incorporate these practices into our daily lives, we begin to discover altars everywhere we go, in nearly everything we do.

'The Practice of Saying No' is the title of Chapter 8 and it is alternately called, Sabbath.  While it is easy and affirming to say 'Yes' it is much more difficult to say 'No' -  yet it is in saying no that we may finally become acquainted with the Holy.  Abrahan Heschel says that the first holy thing in all creation was not a people or a place but a day.  God made everything in creation and called it good; but when God rested on the seventh day, God called it holy.

Sabbath means rest, but it is not always easy, and just as we enter into a day of rest we may be confronted with compulsions, memories, resistance which hinders rather than brings life to our spirits.  Sometimes the practice of Sabbath, similar to holidays, must begin with shorter moments so that our bodies and minds can accommodate it without feeling ill or our of sorts.

Well I'm not going to go into a discussion on Sabbath as I believe we each need to find our own way into it.  For example, for myself, about every 7 months my soul grows weary and I know it is time to take at least a Three-day Silent Retreat.  The weekly practice of Sabbath is essential and I find I crave it more and more, and especially after an intense week. This evening I am finding it particularly inviting as I've finished a painting that has taken several weeks. When a painting is finished I'm exhausted!

To conclude, a final quote from Barbara Brown Taylor on Sabbath.  "The ancient wisdom of the Sabbath commandment - and of the Christian gospel as well - is that there is no saying yes to God without saying no to God's rivals....  Your day begins when you let God hold you because you do not have the slightest idea how to hold yourself - when you let God raise you up - when you consent to rest to show you get the point, since that is the last thing you would do if you were running the show yourself.  When you live in God your day begins when you lose yourself long enough for God to find you and when God finds you, to lose yourself again in praise."