This post is inspired by a similar post (identical in its concept) from the awesome Beth Shively's blog. I think it's a great idea, so I stole it.

Ten Things That Have Made Me Smile Lately

1. Holding my sweet, very sick baby girl until she fell asleep (finally!) after being miserable all day. Even with a 104 fever and some cranky pants, she's adorable!
2. Hearing Canaan tell me, about his "pet" rock (which he's been carrying around everywhere), that "There's no milk inside here. I don't know why anyone would put milk inside this rock. That doesn't make any sense."
3. That I've been relatively successful in increasing some areas of discipline and self-control that God's been challenging me about in recent months.
4. That we've had a few rainstorms lately. I love rain.   
5. Receiving word that a friend passed away. (This may sound twisted, but while I'm sad and he will be missed, he never feared death because he knew his eternal fate...and I know he's dancing with God now.)
6. Engaging in some great corporate worship at Grace Fellowship on Sunday.
7. That, as I've been preparing to share some of God's heart about the Sabbath, I've been able to take some Sabbath time myself as I recommit to this crucial but under-appreciated aspect of faith.
8. That I was actually able to play a video game today. It was only for about 20 minutes, but still. First time in a while.
9. Some fairly painful but awesome lessons God has been teaching me.
10. Watching my favorite episode of The Office, "Conflict Resolution". Love the nickel-phone prank! 

Musings on the Sabbath

The Sabbath tends to be something that Christians follow strictly (and, usually, legalistically), or by and large tend to ignore altogether. God intends the Sabbath to be something that we pursue and observe regularly, but never intended it to be a "rule" that we observe legalistically...and, in so doing, miss the point.

As Jesus told the Pharisees who challenged Him about the Sabbath, "The Sabbath was created for mankind, not mankind for the Sabbath." In other words, we don't exist for the sake of observing the Sabbath; rather, the Sabbath exists for our benefit. The purpose of the Sabbath is to give us rest and balance from the busy-ness that consumes our lives, and (especially and specifically) so that we can deepen and strengthen our relationship with God. If the Sabbath doesn't serve that purpose, then it becomes pointless. That is, if we're not using the Sabbath to spend time growing in holiness and in our relationship with God, we can just ignore it altogether. The only reason the Sabbath exists...the only reason God makes a big deal about this idea of the Sabbath...is because it's good for us (beneficial for our sake) - not because it has some inherent value in and of itself.

Those that don't pay attention to the Sabbath should consider setting time aside, free from distraction, to grow your relationship with God. Those that legalistically follow the Sabbath as a rule or regulation, or because it's something you're "supposed" to do...and not in order to grow your relationship with God...should consider if you've missed the point.

Motivations

Why do we make assumptions about other people's motivations? We're always assuming what's behind people's actions, words, behaviors, attitudes. We think we know where they're coming from...but do we? Most of us have experienced times when other people made assumptions about our own motivations that were incorrect (sometimes slightly, sometimes blatantly). I wonder how often we do that to others? I wonder how often I do this myself? Maybe even recently. Hmm...