“If we look deeply and carefully within all that is hurtful, ignorant, and wounded, we will eventually see the light of the world shine through. The Sabbath makes this presumption. Sabbath time assumes that if we step back and rest, we will see the wholeness in it all. We will naturally apprehend the good in how things are, taste the underlying strength, beauty, and wisdom that lives even in the difficult days, take delight in the gift and blessing of being alive.” Wayne Muller, Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives
“By means of solitude, God frees us from our bondage to people and our own inner compulsions. To enter solitude, we must disregard what others think of us.” Richard Foster
“Sabbath is more than the absence of work; it is not just a day off, when we catch up on television or errands. It is the presence of something that arises when we consecrate a period of time to listen to what is most deeply beautiful, nourishing, or true. honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that sustain and heal us.” Wayne Muller, Sabbath
“Sabbath time is not spiritually superior to work. The practice is rather to find that balance point at which, having rested, we do our work with greater ease and joy, and bring healing and delight to our endeavors.” Wayne Muller, Sabbath
“The meaning of the Sabbath is to celebrate time rather than space. Six days a week we live under the tyranny of things of space; on the Sabbath we try to become attuned to holiness in time. It is a day on which we are called upon to share in what is eternal in time, to turn from the results of creation to the mystery of creation; from the world of creation to the creation of the world.” Abraham Joshua Heschel
Slow Me Down, Lord
Slow me down, Lord.
Ease the pounding of my heart by the quieting of my mind.
Steady my hurried pace with a vision of the eternal reach of time.
Give me, amid the confusion of the day, the calmness of the everlasting hills.
Break the tensions of my nerves and muscles with the soothing music of the singing streams that live in my memory.
Help me to know the magical, restoring power of sleep.
Teach me the art of taking minute vacations, of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a few lines from a good book.
Slow me down, Lord, and inspire me to send my roots deep into the soil of life’s enduring values that I may grow toward the stars of my greater destiny.”
Gratitude 