"Running on Empty" Pastor Cindy's Devotion 04/19/18

Suddenly it’s Thursday!  The Midweek is late! This week has gone by in a flash.  Worship on Sunday.  Bulletin and sermon prep for next Sunday.  Staff meeting. The Finance Committee. The Worship Re-design Team.  The Christian Education Coordinating Council.  An all-day Conference Workshop.  The Senior Disciple Luncheon.  Confirmation.  A memorial service.  Meeting with two couples planning weddings.  A hospital visit.  Several meetings today.  All good work, but suddenly it’s Thursday and I can feel my energies running low.

And your week?  I am wondering if it isn’t similar.  A rush of a week.  I admire our young families, the way they juggle work, family, and church.  I know it is not easy and it often means setting aside their own needs to care for others. 

Tomorrow is my Sabbath.  Sabbath is this wonderful holy time that God sets aside and then gives back to us.  It is a gift that in our fast-paced modern culture, we often fail to accept.  It is time to pause and think, take a nap, renew, breath in and out slowly.  Tomorrow I will wake up, read for a while, go back to sleep, get up, walk around my house, pet the dog, and do tasks that I want to do.  Maybe. And maybe I will do nothing at all.  Sabbath acknowledges that that hours and minutes tick away and sometimes we need to simply feel their passage.

Do you keep Sabbath?  Without Sabbath we are vulnerable. If we don't accept Sabbath, we can find ourselves soul-exhausted, and we can forget to love those around us.  We can make serious mistakes stumbling through our encounters with other human beings. Can we all open our lives for a day, maybe even just an hour, and allow ourselves the gift of Sabbath?  My prayer for us all:  that we all can accept the gift of Sabbath.   Even now, for the next five minutes, give Sabbath to yourself as a time of rest. 

Before I know it, it will suddenly be Saturday.  Back to work, back to routine.  Fueled by Sabbath. 

Blessings and see you Sunday!

Pastor Cindy

Pastor Cindy Hickman

West Des Moines United Methodist Church
720 Grand Avenue, West Des Moines, IA 50265
515.279.0826 

We worship at 8:30 and 11 on Sunday and we would love to worship with you.