This book explains the need for and provides ways to carve out a spiritual time in your week—the Sabbath concept—to rest and create opportunities for renewal of body and spirit. The author offers stories, examples, and rituals that honor the pattern of a day of rest. Chapters deal with the background of the seven-day week; the rhythm of the week; the weekend; the Sabbath concept; reclaiming the Sabbath; habits for a successful Sabbath, and 52+ ways to honor the Sabbath.
A Day of Rest
By Martha Whitmore HickmanDimensions for Living
Copyright © 2002 Martha Whitmore Hickman
All right reserved.ISBN: 9780687097234
Chapter One
What's Wrong with This Picture ?
A woman writes in a national magazine of drivingacross the George Washington Bridge and suddenlybeing inundated by a flood of tears. The stress ofmaking adequate day care arrangements for her childrenand transportation arrangements to get them back andforth to school and hiring extra help to fill in the gaps oftime when neither the day care provider nor she nor herhusband can be with them overshadows the satisfactionand joy she should be taking in a life that is rich and full.
A psychiatrist suggests that the reason so many peopleare on drugs to treat psychoneurotic disorders is thatwe are too busy, our plates are too full.
A friend says in frustration, "I'm busier now than Iwas when we had four kids at home?and I'm angry mostof the time."
The chief of the women's health programs at HarvardMedical School's Division of Behavioral Medicine andMind/Body Medical Institute says stress is the leadinghealth problem facing American women.
An economist reports that work hours and stress areup and sleep and family time are down for all classes ofemployed Americans.
A spokeswoman for a leading fashion designer says ofprospective customers, "Their lives are so hectic. They'regetting children ready for school, going to work, pickingup the kids, getting dinner made, participating in socialevents in the evening. What women really want is clothesthat make life easier." Her prescription? "A medium-thigh-lengthdress in a bright floral print. Throw a jacket over it,and head for the office; tie a sweater 'round your shouldersand take the kids out for a movie. Pair the dress withpearls and sexy slingback heels, and evening wear is acinch. You could literally go from a picnic to a formalrestaurant with one great dress." To which my reaction is,Oh, sure. But at least she's got the situation right.
A National Commission on Civic Renewal has beenestablished to try to find out why Americans are "so cynical,so distraught, so angry, so ticked off about so manythings"?a condition alluded to by one member of thecommission as "grumpiness.... Some of the grumpinesshas to do with the dislocations of the Information Age?notbeing able to work the VCR, having to change jobsevery five years. But more of it comes from the conditionsof our family like not being able to take walks after darkand worry about educational standards." A columnist,commenting on the nearly one million dollars awardedthis commission, says, "Professional worry about America'ssoul has become a national pastime."
And all the time we are being bombarded with messagesto acquire more goods (including labor-saving devicesand elaborate exercise equipment), take advantageof special money-saving offers for exotic trips, invest in?andlearn to use?more sophisticated electronic equipmentto put us in touch with more people and more informationthan we can possibly assimilate.
We are so used to a constant barrage of stimulus thatsometimes we seem to have lost all impulse for quiet.There are people who turn on thetelevision as soon as they wake upand leave it on all day. We retractfrom such mindlessness. But whenwas the last time any of us got in thecar and did not turn on the radio, letalone that device hazardous to thehuman ear?the cellular telephone?A writer, in commenting on thechanges the electronic age hasbrought, suggests that with the barrageof competing stimuli we are indanger of losing our sense of self."And our collective sense of absence,of homelessness, being cut off fromsomething vital, will grow strongertoo."
It isn't only the adults among uswho are besieged with too muchstimulus, too much to do. Childrenare programmed into extra coursesin gymnastics, languages, music,swimming, karate, science?until they run out of days inthe week. These are all valuable in themselves, but whereis the leisure of mind to daydream, to dawdle, to wonder"What am I going to do?" When I observe the frenziedpace of many children's lives today, I recall the time myyoung son, who obviously valued his leisure hours highly,upon being told he'd been invited to a birthday party thefollowing Saturday, said ruefully, "I hate to spoil Saturdaywith a birthday party." That was the old birthday party.Today's birthday parties are extravaganzas at entertainmentcomplexes, with catered refreshments and programmedgames and enough stimulus to last a month. (Tobe sure, such an arrangement does save busy parentstime and stress involved in doing all that at home?andcleaning up after it!)
Certainly, overload is not everyone's problem. Thereare probably people who suffer from understimulation, orat least from lack of inner resources to know what to dowith long stretches of time. I remember thinking, back inthe dim past before "everyone" had television, what asource of refreshment and interest television could be forthe aged or ill and how pleased we all were when mymother and father?on the edge of frailty?gave in andbought their first TV set. But if we think of most adultAmericans still in the full flush of activity, we would findmany more yearning for quiet spaces in their lives thanfor more activities to fill up empty hours.
And some people have little choice in regard to overcrowdingtheir lives. Some need to work two jobs to supportthemselves and their dependents. Some jobs requirealmost a constant presence?though we would look a longtime before we found in today's society acceptance of AndrewCarnegie's demands of his steel mill workers thatthey work twelve hours a day, seven days a week.
But for the vast majority of us, we do have somepower over our schedules and the degree of busyness wetake on. Still, we search for ways to deal with the psychicand physical overload that defines us. With our lives thatshould be brimming with meaning and satisfaction, weare hungry for a peace we know must be out there, orin there?but we don't seem able to avail ourselves of itshealing and refreshment.
So we work at having "quality time," and we wonderwhat is the absolute minimum we need to exercise tokeep our hearts in good runningorder (twenty minutes three times aweek), and hope that tomorrow?ornext week?or next month?thecommotion will ease.
Recognition of the problems ofoverload has been with us for anumber of years. TranscendentalMeditation, the Relaxation Response,and other techniques havehelped many distraught people recoversome sense of perspective?andimprove their health. Retreatcenters are springing up all over thecountry?places where people canget away for a day or a week to beable to "recollect in tranquillity" whothey are and what they are about.
In Kentucky the Abbey of Gethsemani(made famous by ThomasMerton), which accepts outside visitorsfor five-day Monday-through-Friday retreats or weekendrespites, is booked for months in advance. A friendtakes a week of her precious annual vacation to go to a retreatcenter where she can read, think, sit in stillness,walk in stillness, be with a resident guide for a period ofeach day. Then and only then does she feel refreshed andready to embark on the rest of her vacation?a trip with afriend through scenic New England. Some retreat...
