God seems to use this time of endless resolutions - the time when people are actually thinking about what happened in their lives over the past year, and what they want to change in the next, to help us see where we need to grow - to change - to be pruned. He also uses it to show us where we need to focus, what we need to pray more diligently for, and also where we need to step out in faith - or just simply have faith as small as a mustard seed so that we can see the power that a small bit of faith holds.
Again, as I've stated before, I'm not one for "New Year's resolutions." It's not that I think resolutions are bad. No, just the opposite actually. I just feel like I am consistently making resolutions - setting goals - tweaking and changing through trial and error - and I should be listening to the Lord constantly to hear what he has to say. Because honestly, if I don't see somewhere that I need to change about a million times or more throughout the year, then I'm probably not as close to the Lord as I should be. If I'm not in His Word, then I won't see that there is any need for change. I won't see how far I am from the perfection of the Lord, the very One that I need to represent with my thoughts, words, and deeds each and every day. And if I'm not spending time in prayer, then nothing around me, or inside of me for that matter, is going to change.
We don't receive because we don't ask.
So God works at the beginning of the year the same way that He works throughout the entire year, and sometimes (most of the time, really) there is something that He shows us at the beginning of the year - to kind of focus our attention - our affections - on Him.
In years past, He has called us to fast.
This year, He has called us to eat.
sort-of.
We celebrated our first Shabbat with our Church Family on New Years Eve, and we have continued it since, every week, at our home. Neil and I had been learning a lot about Jewish Festivals - The Spring Festivals (Passover, Feast of Unleavened Bread, and Firstfruits - that Jesus all fulfilled) and the Winter Festivals (Feast of Trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Tabernacles - that are "practice" for what has yet to be fulfilled). While studying this, we also were learning about the Sabbath (Shabbat).
How many times had we really thought about the fact that obeying the Sabbath and keeping it Holy is a command, not a suggestion? Yup. One of the 10.
Jesus says that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27, Matthew 12). What I think he was condemning was the Pharisees extreme legalism about the Sabbath. They got onto Jesus for healing on the Sabbath (Matthew 12:10-14). They got onto Jesus for letting his disciples collect grain to eat on the Sabbath (Mark 2:23, Matthew 12). And he's saying "Look. God didn't say that you couldn't move a muscle. He said to honor the Sabbath. to keep it Holy." That doesn't mean you become bound by it to the point that you can't lift a finger (or a dish, or a diaper), or take care of things if a circumstance arose, but you need to have a reverence for it. To treat it as a special day. If you have a job, you need to only work the first 6 days, and rest the 7th, just as God did. When you're at home, you need to try to set this day aside for rest, and time with the Lord. Spend time with family. Have fun. Relax.
But in our culture, even this is difficult. Sometimes it's out of our control when we have to work. Most of the time, Neil works 10-hour days Monday-Thursday. But when it's outage time at the plant, he could be on days, he could be on nights, and when he works is based on a rotation, so you just never know.
What we feel God is showing us is this: set it apart, if and when it is at all possible. That's the very definition of Holy, isn't it? Set apart.
And the Jewish culture has a beautiful way of doing this. It's called Shabbat. A celebration of the Sabbath.
We have a special dinner together. Think along the lines of Thanksgiving - just not so gluttonous, but still a lot of food - and every week. Neil has learned to smoke a chicken to amazing perfection. I make Challah bread (pronounced Halla, with an "H" like you're clearing mucus out of the back of your throat). It's a rich egg & honey bread, braided with 3 strands of dough (a chord of 3 strands is not quickly broken). We use 2 loaves to represent the double portion that God promises to the Israelites for the Sabbath - and he provided a double portion of Manna on the 6th day so they would not have to collect it on the 7th day. (we definitely always have a double portion or more of food...leftovers for the day of rest, for sure!) We have 2 candlesticks that I light as I open in prayer at the beginning. We wash our hands. We thank God for providing. We break bread. We pass the cup. Not the cup of suffering and sacrifice that led to salvation, as in communion, but a cup of Joy. It's a time of rejoicing.
But the part that really stuck out to us when we were learning about it is this: the blessings.
Part of Shabbat is that the husband/father speaks blessings over each of his children. It's a special time that he takes them, lays hands on them, and speaks blessings over them - and encourages them in accomplishments, character that has been built, or other things worthy of praise that the father has witnessed in the child's life that week. Then, he speaks blessings over his wife (I'm rather fond of this part). He prays Proverbs 31 over her, and encourages her - and encourages the children to praise her (to "Rise up and call her blessed.")
Yes, we praise our children as part of everyday life, but this is a special time - to make a point to say things that maybe you didn't get an opportunity to do throughout the busy week. To Bless them - to speak things that are not as though they were. There is power in that. If you call a boy a knight or a warrior, and speak to him as though he were one, he will rise up and become one, because that's what he comes to believe about himself and his abilities. We name our kids intentionally. We want them to grow into their names, and live out what their names mean. Balian means "warrior". We want him to grow to become a warrior for God's kingdom. A prayer warrior, and one that will fight for God's Truth. So we bless him - "May you become a warrior for God's kingdom - one who, like Stephen, loves the Lord more than his very life." That's a good place to start anyway.
It's just beautiful. We follow a Messianic version, so everything that we do puts Jesus as the focus. It's not just some ritual that we do just because. We have a reason. We love it. We look forward to it, and our kids do to.
One day, while my kids were playing with dried beans and Tupperware (yes, they can do this for about an hour), Bella was pouring beans over Balian's hands, saying what we say at Shabbat when we wash our hands: "I dedicate my hands to you, Jesus, to serve you only." Yes, they are just repeating what they have heard, and what they say, but there is profound truth to that.
Bella gets excited about our "Special Dinner". She likes to help me set the table and get everything ready. Balian's favorite part is sitting down to dinner and saying "Shabbat Shalom!"
Isaiah's favorite part is eating the bread.
All three kids are all smiles as Neil lays hands on them and blesses them. It's a special time.
Most of the time we end up breaking out into spontaneous songs of praise at some point.
And I can't help but think that God smiles as he sees us setting this time apart - to remember that we should have a day of rest - making it easier to consciously have a true day of rest the next day.
I can't help but think that this may have a lot to do with breakthroughs and changes in our house. As we honor God, he honors us.
There's still one part of Shabbat that we aren't so sure about though - The specific day. As Christians, most of us make Sunday our day of rest. When did this change, and why? The early Christians still went to the synagogue and observed the Sabbath on Saturday - the 7th day of the week (and Messianic Jews still do), so it couldn't have simply been because Jesus rose on the First day of the week. It's not my wish to be legalistic. I just want to honor God the way he has asked me to. Commanded me to. If he says to rest specifically on the 7th day of the week, then why did everything get changed to Sunday? Are we breaking God's command?
For now, we've been celebrating Shabbat on the day of rest we have been accustomed to (Saturday night, for a day of rest on Sunday), until we get specific guidance on this one.
But no matter the day - it has been so, so special to our family.
Just wanted to share.
