[Transcript of “A 5 minute cuppa” published by Horley Baptist Church on YouTube[1], March 2021]
Hi everyone, welcome to ‘a five minute cuppa’. This is the place that you can come any time of day, just for five minutes, to relax, put your feet up, have a cuppa and listen to a few words to help you grow in your relationship with God.
There have been a lot of difficult things for us to contend with over the last year and time for us to ask God questions about what and why this has all been happening. For many of us it feels like our former lives have been put on pause with time to reflect on what’s gone before and what is to come in a way that we have never had the opportunity to do so before. As I’ve been thinking about this recently my mind has been drawn to discerning why we need regular pauses in our lives.
We know that God has made us to have a weekly sabbath where we take a break from what constitutes the main bulk of our usual activity. Certainly, as a child Sunday was the day that was the different day from the others in the week. I must admit I felt the negatives of this day rather than the positives; it always seemed too quiet and there seemed to be an unwritten rule that you couldn’t do anything that was too much fun. Even when I came to know Jesus I fell in line with the church culture of attending services coupled with catch-up activities in the home with that slight sense of dread on a Sunday evening of not being quite ready for the week ahead.
Sometimes we can bring our past experiences from our family, church or society influence to play in our lives without thinking and totally miss the point of having a regular time in the week to refresh our souls. I know in the past I’ve been notoriously bad at this, fearing my long and never-ending to-do list and just feeling that there wasn’t time to take any kind of break.
As usual Jesus has had a way of changing my former thinking and helping me to see things in a completely different way. God certainly isn’t a killjoy, out to make one of our days as boring as possible, as I thought as a child. I’ve come to realize that God’s suggestions are full of wisdom, there to help us in a way that makes the deepest difference in our lives. Taking a sabbath rest is much more about refreshing our soul and celebrating the life and relationship we have with our creator and friend than it is about following a rule to keep God happy.
I find that when the Holy Spirit speaks to me about something important that He goes on to help me find a way to work out that thinking in a practical way. Asking questions and waiting for answers is becoming a pattern and a key to hearing His voice. I realized that for my situation my sabbath didn’t have to be on a Sunday and it didn’t have to be a whole day at a time; it didn’t have to be all about spending time quietly resting or about feeling guilty for all the busy things that I spent my time catching up with. I was delighted to discover that actually it was more about doing things that did me good; things that really did restore me, prepare me and give me strength for the full-on life that God has given me.
My sabbath now tends to take place over the weekend, some hours on a Saturday and some on a Sunday. I plan for it and make it purposeful. I like to have a time with God just to be quiet and still, to be aware of His presence, to think about His character and what I love about Him. Then I’ll build in time to speak to people I like to be with; listening, talking, chewing over a topic or dilemma and trying to find a solution, or not. I just love it. I make sure I do an activity I love too; reading and thinking about ideas in a book, writing in my prayer journal, putting my feet up with a cup of tea or going for a drive or walk somewhere with a great view.
The things that do you good will probably be different from mine. I would encourage you to discover the things that refresh your soul and give you strength. Plan for them and make them regular within your week. The Father is so wise and knows us to the core of our being. Regular restoration prepares us and helps us live our lives well, whether that’s in our work, our relationships or negotiating something that’s tough and unknown to us like a global pandemic. I for one am glad that in all of this I am constantly reminded through my regular sabbath times that we are never in this alone
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[1] YouTube link: Refresh Your Soul
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Contributed by Sandy Turner; © the Author
