This week we will have six and a half more hours of daylight than we did in December.
It seems like a surprising more amount daylight and yet this cycle happens every year.
What phase is the moon in today?
On Monday it was a first quarter moon waxing toward a full moon next Tuesday.
Waxing and waning.
The loons have just laid their one or two eggs in the nest they built together this week and now will incubate them for the next four weeks.
Such is their pattern.
Lots of people notice seeing their first robin but has anyone seen a monarch butterfly yet?
They usually show up in late May.
Farmers have rotated their crops to rest the soil from the same old crop every year and are planting with calculated hopes of good yields based on time honored conservation techniques.
Patterns, rhythms, cycles.
Keep the Sabbath, for your sake. For your sake is not meant in an “or else” sense. Instead for your sake means that in keeping Sabbath we will discover a deeper rhythm with the one who sets celestial bodies in orbit, sets the life cycles of birds and their babies and even guides butterflies be-bopping back to their milkweeds.
One day a week stop working and studying and remember that you are more than what you do. One day out of seven delight in the opportunity to share God’s peace -however you interpret that phrase to mean. Power down, don’t buy things, rest, share a meal, make love. One day out of seven delight in the gifts God has given, just to be reminded that not everything, everyday, all the time, is up to you.
Patterns, rhythms, cycles.
Why would we ignore such a dance? Wouldn’t you and I be better off saying yes to life? Our understanding of the science of cycles and rhythms and seasons seems to point in the direction of that ancient commandment: Remember the Sabbath. It is the only one of the ten that begins with the word, remember - like we already deeply know this – like it is hardwired inside of us.
Honor one day out of seven as holy – take your foot off the gas pedal - live life 24/6.
Pastor Mike Woods
