Keeping the Sabbath

Remebering the Sabbath. . . and the other 6 days too

I love my work. A lot. I feel incredibly blessed to be doing what I’m doing. On a typical day I’m excited to get out of bed. I dance in the shower and hum on the train ride. I’m the annoyingly happy person smiling at all the grumpy pedestrians along my walk to the office. my hubby at home is always teasing me about staying late, asking when I’m going to go to bed. I used to particularly enjoy going into my home office for a few hours on Sunday and having the whole place to myself so I can turn up my music as loud as I want and work without interruption.

Recently some friends invited me on a short trip to Dominican Republic, which would involve taking –gasp– three whole days off from work! I thought about it for a bit, but declined. I have a lot going on these days, things are busy, and besides. . . I love my work! Why on earth would I take a vacation?

Well, last week I guess it all caught up with me, because Friday morning rolled around and I woke up in a truly rotten mood. I felt sluggish. Things seemed bleak. Work felt like drudgery. I caught myself grumbling that I never seem to have any fun. I really couldn’t imagine why I felt so awful. Maybe because I’d stayed late at work all week? And hadn’t been to the gym in a month? And hadn’t seen my friends in a while? And wasn’t eating particularly healthy stuff? Hmmm. . .

Every now and then at the sinagogue, there’s a teaching that seems like it was purposely tailor-made for me right at that exact moment. This Shabbat’s was one of them. Shlomo, the leader, talked about the importance of taking the Sabbath and of resting in general. I am pretty good about observing the Sabbath–if nothing else, it’s a great excuse NOT to do the dishes and pay bills–but what good is that if I’m running myself into the ground the other 6 days? The general message was that rest is pretty important, time off is good, and that no matter how much we like our work, it’s always possible to overdo it.

As I was listening to the teaching, I felt like God said “Don’t you think you might be able to take 3 days off to go to Quisqueya? Remember how much you love snorkeling, eating your national dish, hanging out with friends, the sea creatures, walking or meditating on the beach, swimming, taking pictures, and having pina coladas for breakfast? And remember at Hanukka when you went away and Elie and karl had a whole bunch of work done when you got back? That could happen again!”

So I booked the tickets. And more importantly, vowed to slow down the work pace. . . a little bit.