Sabbath Days (part one)

Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you.

Deuteronomy 5:12

Last week, I traveled back to Lincoln, Nebraska. While I was in the plane, I wrote about how worried and tired I am. It was a Sabbath, a stop day. Yet, I couldn’t stop the fears of failure. I worried and worried about the future. I also mentioned that Jesus gives me a Sabbath. He wants me to surrender my life, including all this burdens I’ve been carrying. I’m supposed to let go and take his yoke.

While last week’s post was about the Sabbath, I only tried to show how Jesus gives me a time when I can stop worrying. This time, I want to reflect on what I do with that time God has set apart, the Sabbath day.

Since I left home for college in June 2012, my Sabbaths have changed quite a lot —sometimes for the better and many other times for the worse.

When I moved into the dorm, I realized there was no one who would wake me up Saturday morning to put on my  Sabbath attire and sit on a pew in the church across the street. Moreover, once in my room, I would do whatever I want. I could break as many “Sabbath rules” as I wanted.

With my newfound freedom, I decided I would attend church and keep the Sabbath because I wanted to. Pretty boring? Hey, with more freedom comes more responsibility (thanks, Uncle Ben!) and I wasn’t going to betray my principles just because I could.

The thing is: my Sabbaths did change.

I came to Union College excited about being in a Seventh-day Adventist school. I had felt God leading me to this place against my will a couple months before, but over the summer I learned to accept and even enjoy God’s plan. In this new school, I felt my spiritual life could blossom.

The church across the street looked so big in comparison to my home church in Mexicali I was scared. When your church is small, you get involved in everything. Here, I probably would just sit and listen because I was, and still am, too scared of being up in front in a church that size.

Even though the college only has about 800 or 900 students, I had never been in a community sharing a block with so many people. I did not want to rise as a leader, but I did want to have a smaller group I could be part of so I started a Sabbath school in Spanish. This, I thought, would help me study the Bible consistently and hold me accountable in my devotional life as I lead this small group.

Before the school year actually started, I judged that year would change my life spiritually. With great music and a new worship service structure and a small Sabbath school I did not expect the many spiritual struggles I experienced that year.

More on that later.

Today, I’ve had a blessed Sabbath. I took Jesus’ yoke because it is easy and his burden is light.

Shabbat shalom.