A sponge is a useful tool. It’s great for cleaning up messes and wiping up spills. One property that makes it work so well is its absorbency. It can soak up so much! We wring it out, and it’s good for some more clean up jobs. But after a while, that sponge becomes saturated. It’s time to set it aside in a sunny spot and let the warm air evaporate the moisture. Once dry, the sponge is ready to be used again.
In many ways, we are like that sponge. If you think about it, people absorb so much while going about the daily demands of life! As soon as we wake up, we begin absorbing life’s little messes - and even some big ones! Our toddler didn’t make it to the potty. The dog is whining at the door. We’re running late for work, but traffic is crawling. A family member is lonely, and you feel responsible, so we carve out a couple hour’s visit. We dread that difficult conversation with a coworker. Our phone vibrates with a text - the babysitter is letting us know the dog got loose. A distant cousin just passed away, and we wonder if we should attend the funeral seven hours’ drive away. We listen to our teenager during a late-night heart-to-heart. We learn from Facebook that a college acquaintance is battling cancer, and even though this person is far-removed from our current life, we worry a little...and pray. Wow! It all adds up! So much love spills over, so many puddles of emotions surround us, so many demands and responsibilities put us through the wringer. After a while, we can only hold so much input and pressure. We are saturated!
This is why God gave us Sabbath. He designed us to be brought back to our original state - to be restored. Like the sponge, we need to sit for a while until we dry out, until all the cares of life evaporate in the warmth of the Son. But we must cooperate with this rhythm God designed for us. We must intentionally and regularly allow ourselves the time to dry out from all that we’ve absorbed during the week. Only then will we be ready and able to serve again.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. ~ Psalm 23:1-3
by Heather J. Willis, author
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