Sleeping Gnomes and Sabbath Rest!
So I saw these gnomes in Target this week. They totally made me smile.
Everyone was rushing past them shopping while they lay there and slept…. Made me wonder how much of life we spend rushing around, when we need to be getting rested instead. The pace of life today makes it so hard to really stop, refuel and listen to God.
My brain started to think about the concept of “Sabbath”. We all know that Genesis speaks of God creating the universe, then resting on the 7th day. That day of rest was called the Sabbath, and the people of Israel were instructed to follow this patterm of keeping one day a week work-free and dedicating it to rest and to God.
So what does that mean for us today as Jesus-followers? What should our pattern of life look like as Apprentices of the Master… how can we obey the call to “Sabbath”? Do you guys think it needs to be Sundays, or one certain day per week? or is it a general approach to life? And what should these times of rest look like… what is the goal and why do we do it?
(Also – sidenote – for extra points!! – What on earth IS a GNOME anyway?! And where did they come from??!)
Would love to hear your thoughts!
Vicky
I don't think we have to have a certain to to rest as a rule. I do think however that scheduling it in just helps you actually do it. So I would say having a certain day per week that you know that you are going to simply rest is helpful.
Gnome: The word gnome comes from the Greek word “gnosis” meaning knowledge. This was applied to them because it was said that they knew the exact location of precious metals. They are usually depicted as grotesque dwarves wearing tight-fitting brown clothes and monastic hoods. They live underground and guard the earth's treasures. Hard-working and usually depicted as being old, they can dissolve into the trunks of trees to hide from humans. Sometimes they are confused with goblins, but gnomes are usually good-natured, hard- working and reliable whereas goblins are malevolent. They do tend to be sad however, because they rule in cold places. Typically, they live for hundreds of years. These vegetarians are one of the four groups of elementals.
very short person .
I love reading your blog.
being on staff at a church, sundays are a work day for me. but like most churches, we are off on fridays and i make that my sabbath. i protect those days and make sure i do nothing work related.
it's amazing when we make sure to stop and rest how much more we can accomplish with the rest of the time God gives us.
gnomes come from all over the earth and up until recently, relied solely on hidden treasures as their source of income. Travelocity has now fixed that problem…
Vicky,
Great question Sabbath for Christ followers these days for some who serve in ministry full-time Sunday or have job's that requires them to be on call during the weekend. What is important that we take time to take a break at least one day a week from normal schedule to spend time in Christian gathering Sunday or some other time during the week.worship, scripture ,prayer and fellowship.
Gnome (in folklore) one of a species of diminutive beings, usually described as shriveled little old men, that inhabit the interior of the earth and act as guardians of its treasures; troll.
Nathan
Hey Vicky! We met at the Summer Of Service conference in Cincinnati last summer.
Check out the book “Traveling Light” by Max Lucado – there's a nice chapter about rest. I don't personally think that the Sabbath is a rule, though it is a command to observe it so maybe it is. I'm not sure, but it is for our own good. We get tired and stressed and sick when we don't rest and the Lord knows this. We need to be able to live for Him in the fullest ways possible, and we just can't do that without proper rest.
Gnomes are both cute and creepy, that's all I have to say. Hahaha!
I'm not too sure about gnomes – they just scare me.
I think rest needs to be a 24/7/365 thing – to rest in the arms of God's provision, and to see everything we are and everything we do through the lens of his eyes. If we look through our own lens, it's way too easy to be uneasy about anything. I was just reading this morning in Psalm 53, where it reads, “Have those who work evil no knowledge, who eat up my people as they eat bread, and do not call upon God? There they are, in great terror, where there is no terror!” Terror? Where there is no terror? (sounds a bit like the situation of the world over the last year… financial disasters and all)
Resting in God can give us a peace in the middle of other's terror. As for me, it's got to be all the time (but, of course, like everyone else – I'm still working on that…)
blessings
scott
My mum is a vicar! so resting on a suday when you have 4 services to do in one day cant really be called rest her day off is monday!
i think alot of people think a day of rest is not what it is supposed to mean!
Modern day meaning:
No work, no church, sitting with feet up easy food and a movie on!
what it should mean:
a day of celebrating the sheer joy of being created giving to god your stesses and worries of the week letting all burdens and hardships we face in everyother day wash away as we come into his presence and be renewed and refreshed in his light!
Because to be Resting in Gods arms=refreashing to face the next coming week!
whatever day we may choose to do it on as long as yo take one day to give back to go and let yourself be refreash i think he wouldnt mind!
Something that has currently been on my mind!
1 day to god is 1000 years to us!
i sat and pondered this and thought about the many things that good has to face in one day
millions upon millions born alive and burried in one day
wars, the building and destruction of great citys,
Hopefully LOTS of worshiping him,
walking with us though our problems great and small and not just the ones we may be facing but all of them thought your entire life!
So i was left with this However busy or hectic life may get for us in one day god has 1000years compressed into 24 hours………………now thats what i call a busy day!! Our god is a great God INDEED!
Just a thought!
Sabbath is a commandment, but not as religious practice, I think this commandment is the God's mercy to avoid the man to keep doing things without stop, rest and reflections. The sabbath is a warning to tell us that we need to stop, we need to rest and reflect about what we are doing, about what we are living. We need always to stop and align our lives with what God want us to do and live. I think I can have a sabbath moment everyday, where I can look to God and ask the Holy Spirit to help see the things that I'm doing without the will of God. Sabbath is a call for us to stop with our activities, bow our knees and receive some directions to execute things that will last forever.
About the gnomes I don't know what to say.
This is my opinion with a bad English… sorry, hope you guys can understand something!
You're posting blogs so fast right now I can't keep up! Your last post took me a few days to process through.
Like the others above I don't believe the Sabbath is a specific day of the week. But I do think it is important to have a day where we take a break. I was thinking about what God was doing on his Sabbath after creating everything, and I'm thinking he wasn't tired, but maybe he wanted to enjoy what he had accomplished and enjoy the fruit of his labor. I think this is added to what was already said above, that we do rest and engage with God, but that we also enjoy what He has blessed us with, enjoy the fruit of our labor. (questions: is it “fruits” or “fruit” of our labor?)
As for Gnomes… I find they are great house warming gifts.
Ever notice how “Abba” is found in the middle of Sabbath?
Wow, April – that's a great description of a Gnome! Do you have your doctorate in gnome-ology? ;o)
Love that picture of the gnomes!
I'm almost to the end of a book that a friend gave me recently – “So You Don't Want To Go To Church Anymore.” It's not completely about Sabbath rest, but it does make some interesting points about areas that could be improved upon with how we do this whole church thing. And, like “The Shack,” it's in story form so it's easy to read. I'd be interested in others thoughts on that one if you've read it.
Jesus made a point of upsetting the religious establishments of His day – and yet we seem quick to set up more of the same in His name. And Jesus told us that the sabbath was made for the benefit of man, not man for the performance of a sabbath ritual. Of course we don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water either, but – as you've encouraged us to do here – we ought to be continually reexamining the things we do and the reasons behind them.
So far as rest goes, it seems to be something that our culture here in America has a problem with. Busy-ness can give us a feeling of importance. And I'm still not sure if sabbath is more supposed to be about a particular day of the week or about our whole lifestyle. In either case, I've got some work to do (ironically) to improve in this area. Maybe it's a bit about both a regular day as well as the lifestyle of rest.
Hi Vicky,
I'm doing some research for an article about the relevance of 'sabbath' for us today. Many point to the fat that sabbath is a type of the rest we have in Christ, whcih is true, but I think we also still need the rhythm and boundary that sabbath can give us, without falling into legalism. Really struck by your comments here. Many are asking the same thing. Hs your thinking developed at all?
Hi Vicky,
I'm doing some research for an article about the relevance of 'sabbath' for us today. Many point to the fat that sabbath is a type of the rest we have in Christ, whcih is true, but I think we also still need the rhythm and boundary that sabbath can give us, without falling into legalism. Really struck by your comments here. Many are asking the same thing. Hs your thinking developed at all?