An "Old Fashioned" Day

Somewhere in the vicinity of a decade ago, I uttered a prayer that seems now to have been the seed of a life defining conviction. "Lord, I want to serve you but I don't want to be tired the rest of my life," I said in a moment of reflection and probable exhaustion. This cry stemmed from observation of the "grown ups" I was admiring at the time, men and women I respect and honor today. These few, whilst doing great works and seeking hard after God, made frequent comment of their exhaustion, and some of whom made continual homage to the coffee pot to keep going. I also have passed many years in that same occupation.

Yet about the time of that first utterance, I began to wonder about the Sabbath. Whether or not I had many formed opinions on the matter at the time, I do not remember. I made some investigation into Scriptures on the subject, coming to some initial conclusions. My rudimentary understanding at the time was to do not what I considered laborious and to invest instead into what I considered restful. I smile to remember that grocery shopping was a particular enjoyment for me at that time and a regular Sabbath occupation. I did not relegate Sabbath to a particular day, as I was working in a hospital that required me to be on duty on various days, weekends included. Actually, my Sabbath was usually not on a weekend at all but any day I could pull away from the crowd and build my reserve of soulful rest. Such has the pattern continued, uninterrupted by much change, for almost a decade, until now.

I will lay credit for this resurgence of study, almost solely, at the instrument of late author, Grace Livingston Hill. A writer from the early 1900's, she penned stories that couched Bible messages worked out in the lives of her characters, addressed current social problems and cast vision for a Godly life. Sabbath observance was a frequent topic her characters wrestled with, either in the aim to observe it amidst opposition or in the quandaries of why to observe it at all for those who did not. Nearly a century after those stories were published, in a culture that externally is far removed, I am urged on to a deeper understanding.