Sunday Sabbath November 29 2015  ARE YOU AWAKE?

The alarm sounded this morning.  After being up very late for the last four nights, I was quite disappointed that the alarm was ringing in the middle of the night.  Well, at least it was still dark.  Dark, and very cold outside of the covers.  What is so unusual about hearing the alarm is that I am almost always awake before any alarm can go off.  Actually, I had awakened at 5:30 a.m., went to the potty room, and crawled back between my warm covers knowing full well the alarm would go off in a few moments.  Well, when it did ring I was already in never-never land, sound asleep.  It was as if I couldn’t move.  I was still and quiet just hoping that it was a bad dream and it really wasn’t time to get out of bed to get ready for early church service.  I hear a quiet voice coming from the other side of the bed saying, “Are you awake”?  “Yes”, I slowly responded.  “Oh, I didn’t know,” my husband replied back.  “You know why I didn’t know”, not waiting for a response he then said,  “It’s because you weren’t talking”.

Well, that comment made me burst out in laughter!  In other words, he was insinuating that if I am awake, THEN I AM TALKING!  And you know what?  He is probably right, especially in the morning.  That is usually our most talkative time. INSERT: (MY HUSBAND HAD TO ADD A COMMENT AS HE PROOF READ…”THAT IS ONLY SECOND TO ALL THE OTHER TIMES”). I love those times but it just came too early for a sleep deprived body.  You know what one of my favorite things I love about my husband is?  Well, of course you don’t, so I’ll tell you.  I love that there is never a day that goes by that he does not make me break out in laughter.  So that is how my day began, with an outburst of laughter that I couldn’t contain.  If you don’t laugh much you should try it sometime, even if you have to just start out with fake laughter until you sound so ridiculous to yourself that you just start laughing at yourself.  An excellent book to read on that subject is “ANATOMY OF AN ILLNESS AS PERCEIVED BY THE PATIENT” by Norman Cousins, written in 1979.  It is still pertinent in today’s world.  Laughter is one of the best things you can do for yourself each day.  Try it, you might like it!

So, today is Sunday.  A beautiful Sunday Sabbath, blue sunny skies, green grass and 19 degrees outside.  The snow is all melted and it looks like autumn again, but with winter’s temperatures.  Winter is now officially less than a month away.  On this Sunday Sabbath Dave and I once again realized we needed a break from “doing”.  (I could get used to this.)  Today I took it literally and decided after fixing lunch that I would do just that.  So I did the only sensible thing to do, I immidiately got undressed and slipped into sweater pants (stretchy waistband), a long sleeved soft knit shirt, my fuzzy socks, and decided if I was going to do nothing I would do it very comfortably.  And then I remembered!  Oh dear, I have a client coming over this afternoon to pick up their wedding album.  So…I am still in my comfortable clothes.  Our time is open ended so I called and left a message that they are to call me before they come.  It is supposed to be around the 5:30 p.m. time frame.  So, hopefully they’ll call first and give me time to change.  It just feels too good to change before I must.

Other than expecting them today I am so hoping nothing else will happen.  I still want to watch that Christmas movie I have been longing for this past week.  Dave even found a string of movies on a religious channel that all seemed to be the wholesome kind of movies that I like to watch.  He scheduled a whole list of them to record for me.  I guess I am now set with enough movies to watch at least one a day.  Remember, the month of December is our month off.  I have dreamed of a month like this for years.  When I was working it was almost impossible to find the time to spend watching a television show, much less a two hour movie.  So, I just never took the time to watch any movies except at Christmas time.  Dave will hopefully be recovered by Christmas and able to go back to his workouts, and hopefully my elbow and shoulder will have recovered sufficiently for me to use fully. 

When I hurt my elbow almost 4 weeks ago I think I also damaged my right shoulder.  The elbow still gives me pain if I do things I shouldn’t be doing.  But it is the shoulder that is causing me the most consternation.  Very limited in movement but I do the exercises I was instructed to do every day to keep it mobile.  If the shoulder doesn’t heal I will need to have it looked at further.  I have already had a rotator cuff repair on each shoulder.  That is not something I would ever want to go through again.  I was glad I only had two shoulders.  I never gave it a thought that I could hurt one again.  Oh well, maybe it is just old age and it will eventually go away.  However, it does not seem like old age goes away (at least not until we draw our last breath).  So you see, there is always hope for a good ending!

I truly hope you are having a wonderful, restful, God inspiring, Sabbath.  I shall take seriously the words that God has commanded.  REST ON THE SABBATH!  It makes for a guilt free rest time. 

A TIME OF SURRENDER

By Kathleen Martens

November 29, 2015

A day of rest to free the spirit

The body and the soul.

A time of complete surrender

On Sabbath should be your goal.

Yield to the needs of body

To replenish, renew, and rest.

One day in all the week

To do what is fully best.

What an absolute wonderful God

To give such a command.

He knew that are bodies would tire

And rest they would demand.

So take to heart and use it well

This Sabbath that God created.

For His word is ever true

And should not be debated.

Fifty two times in a year

We have permission to just be.

No expectation to perform

That body and spirt be free.

So I shall do such a thing

As God has told me to.

And on Monday I will rise,

Rested, relaxed, renewed.

Good afternoon.  Praying you have a wonderful and fulfilling week ahead.  And remember, take time to rest on the Sabbath.  God bless you.