Remembering the Sabbath

So now that the semester is over, I'm not grading students' papers throughout the weekend. I never realized just how much time I spend grading over the weekend until I don't have papers to grade. It's then when I realize how nice it is to actually have a weekend- an end to the week- a time of rest.

I'm the first one to say that I (more often than not) don't remember the Sabbath. The weekend is a time for me to catch up, and I pile the tasks onto Sunday the bulk of the time. I recently read a blurb in the Kraft Food and Family magazine. It mentioned that if you don't feel like you ever have a weekend, try getting all of your tasks you normally do on the weekend finished during the week. It may seem like more of a hassle to add more to your ever-growing list during the week, but the benefits of having a relaxing and restful weekend will outweigh this in due time. "Huh," I thought to myself. "You know, they're right about that." I decided to try out their technique last week. I did the laundry on Thursday and went grocery shopping right after work on Friday. These are both tasks I usually do on Saturday mornings. Isaac helped me pick up and clean on Friday when he got home. Granted, I didn't have papers to grade or classes to prepare for this weekend, but still- I was amazed at how nice my weekend actually was- in essence, that it existed at all.

Then, I really started to use my brain, which can be rather scary at times. At one point I literally thought, "Oh. Yeah, so God did talk about resting on the Sabbath, now didn't He?" This is of course something I have realized before, but why did it take the Food and Family magazine to get this through my brain this time? I'm not too sure, but I know that He works all things together for the good of those who love Him. And so now, the hard part comes in to play: remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy- every Sabbath. So hold me accountable friends!

This weekend, Isaac and I saw Prince Caspian for free! Thanks to our dear friend Kim and her church for allowing us this privilege! The movie was great, although there were some differences from the book. All is well however, because my favorite mouse Reepicheep was still included in the adventure. Ironically enough, in Sunday school we talked about when we feel God is absent. Look to Prince Capsian for thoughts on this subject. I don't want to write too much about the movie for those of you who haven't seen it yet. And for those of you who haven't read it: read it.

On Sunday, we have our first church service in our new building! God is faithful and our church body is so very excited about meeting together as a congregation in one service instead of three. Oh unity! Pray that the transition would be smooth and that our focus would remain on the Lord. Because we're moving into a new neighborhood, pray for the hearts of those families who will be living close to our new church building. Pray we would be willing to share His glorious name with those individuals and the rest of our community.

In other news of God being faithful, you should check out my friend Glenna's blog. What a wonderful story of His unending love!

Oh yes, and please pray for us at work. The busy season has indeed begun! We just received verifications for eight Burmese individuals. That makes a total of 52 refugees on whom we are waiting to arrive. We're bound to get more verifications in the next few months, so pray for our small staff of four to serve these people well!

"But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness." -Psalm 86:15