I have the privilege of having several orthodox Jewish friends. Their families observe the Sabbath in a very traditional manner. From sundown Friday thru sundown Saturday, they keep a sacred Sabbath, without work of any kind. I often find myself thinking about my friend Naomi on Friday evenings. I imagine her getting ready for her Shabbat dinner. The house is cleaned. Dinner is prepared. The smell of freshly baked bread fills the house. Her week has been long, much like mine, but the work of her week is done. The Sabbath has come. She will gather her family around the table, light the Shabbat candles, and begin Sabbath. A real, biblical 24-hour-break Sabbath. No housework, no cooking, no laundry for 24 hours. I have to admit, as I imagine it, I am green with envy. But then I wonder why I'm envious. Does the Christian faith not call me to have a Sabbath too? Am I not supposed to set a day aside to rest? I imagine myself as a Jewish mother, lighting the Shabbat candles. I would let the candlelight wash over me and I would exhale. Do you know the exhale I am talking about? That big exhale which would let go of the tension, frustration and unfinished work of my week. In that moment, I would begin to breathe, and after the Sabbath, I would be renewed to start another week.

This Sunday, I am coordinating a bake sale at our church from 7:30 to 12:30. Somewhere in the middle of that I will sneak out and attend one of the services. At 4:00 our bible study is coming over for study and dinner (which means I will spend from about 2:00 to 4:00 cleaning the house and making dinner). I volunteered to do these things. I actually want to do them. But when I think about my "Sabbath" day, I have to say I am a bit sad. Where are my Shabbat candles? Where is my chance to exhale? If I am honest with myself, Naomi's house is probably not perfectly clean, there are dirty clothes in the hamper and her temple's women's ministry needs to do a fundraiser too. Her life is no different than mine she is just making a different choice. I too can choose to stop and accept God's gift of the Sabbath.

As we start the weekend I would like to wish you Shabbat Shalom. May you have a peaceful Sabbath and give yourself a little space and time to exhale and be renewed.

I would love to hear your suggestions and comments on how your family keeps the Sabbath.

 

 

 

 

Operation Christmas Child

This week is National Collection Week for Operation Christmas Child (OCC). If you are not familiar with this project, OCC delivers shoeboxes full of Christmas gifts to needy children around the world. Volunteers are asked to fill a shoebox (or a shoebox size plastic tub) with small items such as crayons, balls, toothbrushes, soap, hard candies, small books – you get the idea. The shoeboxes are collected at drop off points around the country and then shipped to their recipients. The first few years that I heard of this program I thought, "What can fit in a shoebox?" It seemed like such a paltry giving project. Last year my daughter's preschool promoted the program, so we participated for the first time. I was amazed at what can fit in a shoe box. I actually had to go back to the store to get some more items to fill up the box. Being a visual and concrete giving project, our 4 year old really seemed to understand the value of what we were doing. Unlike giving money to a charity, this was her shoebox , filled with things she likes, going to another little girl out there in the world.

Today we filled this year's shoebox. Again, I was amazed at what fit in there.

Here is a list of what we packed:

• One pair of pj's
  
• One set of 24 crayons
  
• Two small notebooks
  
• One paperback picture book
  
• 8 small cans of play dough
  
• A rubber bouncy ball
  
• Two hand held party favor type games
  
• 6 small stuffed animals
  
• 2 bars of soap
  
• A yo yo
  
• Assorted lollipops and hard candy
  

Isn't that amazing! While we were packing the box my daughter and I had a great conversation about what size box we would need to fit all her Christmas (or birthday) gift into. We talked about how much we have compared to other families. We also talked about how happy the little girl will feel when she gets her box. It was a great.

If you would like to participate in Operation Christmas Child go to their website and find a drop off location near you. Here is the site – www.samaritanspurse.org. There are complete instructions on how to pack your shoebox.