Sabbath Rest

Summer is inviting me to begin an extended Sabbath rest.

I have deep respect for the Jewish tradition’s practice of Shabbat. A Sabbath day of total rest to simply be and pray. The day preceding Shabbat, food is prepared. The Shabbat meal that is the commencement, the portal, for the sunset to sunset rest. Families gather around the table and the meal is prayerful and intentional. Once Shabbat begins, all work comes to a pause, everything technological is unplugged, and quiet settles in.

Inspired by the blessing of Shabbat, Sabbath rest, I am in need of and choosing to begin a sustained period of prayerful discernment to contemplate my intentions for my autumn and winter’s work. During my modified Sabbatical, I will continue to create and post the monthly materials for The Sophia Dialogues and to provide spiritual direction.

I’ve also discerned that going forward I’ll offer this newsletter monthly, so I don’t overload subscribers’ inboxes. The next issue will arrive sometime in August. Additionally until autumn, my posts on social media will be infrequent.

Time is fleeting. Life is a rapidly flowing stream. I am called to savor a fallow time to follow my inner call for spaciousness to renew my spirit, work on my memoir, journal, stitch, read, and pray. During this season of Sabbatical I’ll write letters to those I’ve lost touch with, take walks with my husband, visit with family and weed my inner garden in preparation for the autumn harvest. Most of all, I’m longing to rest in silence to listen deeply to the still small voice within.

May your summer be blessed. I send love to you and wish you a Sabbath rest.

Are you called to unplug from technology, to create spaciousness for being-ness? How would you choose to enter into a period of pause and prayer? When autumn arrives, how will the season find you?