A sabbath reflection

Every so often I read posts on other people's blogs which seem to have been written just for me.  I've just been reading Small Moments and a comment by Angela from Tracing Rainbows who reminded me of a poem by Joyce Grenfell, "Time".  Here's the first verse.

When I was a girl there was always time,

There was always time to spare.

There was always time to sit in the sun;

And we were never done

With lazing and flirting,

And doing our embroidery,

And keeping up our memory books,

And brushing our hair,

And writing little notes,

And going on picnics,

And dancing, dancing, dancing, dancing–

When I was a girl there was always time to waste.

Thank the Lord.

Today is my Sabbath, my weekly period of quietness and reflection which in my girlhood would have driven me crazy but is now one of my favourite things.  I read that verse and realised that I'm in my second girlhood!  

I'm always busy, but I've always got time to spare if someone suggests an outing, or a cuppa and a natter.  I've got plenty of time to sit in the sun when the sun wants to shine on me.  I've time not just to embroider but to knit, sew, crochet or whatever.  I don't have a memory book but I have time to write a blog.  I not only write little notes but make the cards to write the notes on.  And in my head I am often dancing but have to admit that on this one the spirit is willing but the flesh extremely weak.

I spent part of my youth working in Nigeria as a librarian and have been looking at some photographs of that precious time.  I see Nkere, Mandu. Helen, Aniema and other women with whom I talked and laughed.  The average lifespan for women in Nigeria is just 53 years.  I am now 67.  Have any of those women on my old photographs also enjoyed the privilege of advancing years?  I don't know.   

A Sabbath crowned with glory!

Long time readers of my blog will know that for several years I have reserved Saturday as a Sabbath, a day of rest and seclusion, a special time of looking for the signs of God's work in my life.  

It starts on Friday  when I get the house in order.  I like Sabbath to be a time of calm and a clean, tidy house helps with that.  Happily the wonderful Annie, my home-enhancer, sorted that one!  I like to tidy before she comes (otherwise she would tidy and I wouldn't find any thing) but she makes sure everything gleams.

Sabbath begins with my evening meal.  This week it was stir fried vegetables with cashew nuts.  Sometimes I will have a glass of wine and after the meal I settle down with my favourite mint tea, made in a tea-pot and drunk from a fine china cup and saucer.  These little touches are important.  Then I settle down to a quiet evening.  This week it was knitting and an audiobook.

Saturday's activities are also quiet.  Yesterday I was scanning some of my late sister's work on the family tree.  This magnum opus runs to five ring binders full of A4 sheets so it is a mammoth task  As I scanned I thought of her, and of our parents.  I thought about my Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather Joseph, born in Epworth in 1769 some sixty years after the young John Wesley was "The brand plucked from the fire" as his father's Rectory in that same village burned to the ground.  I thought about many of my foremothers and forefathers, the people who quite literally made me the woman I am today.  And I thanked God for them.

And while I was doing that there was a wonderful delivery - orchids!  These were a gift from a dear friend.  And so my thoughts turned from my ancestors to the wonderful loving friends I have today.

Truly my Sabbath was crowned with glory

The Gift of Time

Today has been my Sabbath.  I have been keeping this special day for over three years now and each week I still look forward to it.

If you had come to my home today you would have been welcomed and offered a cuppa but you wouldn't have been pressed to stay.  This is a day of quiet and seclusion.

It's nothing like a Jewish Sabbath which is a family celebration and starts with a family meal.  I am a single woman and I use this special day to embrace my solitary life.  My meal each Friday night is special.  I make sure I use a freshly laundered tablecloth and napkin.  Plonking the food on the plate is not an option: this is a day for serving dishes and maybe even ceremony, even if just for me.  Or maybe especially just for me.  A candle may be lit or a small vase of flowers placed on the table.

After my meal I settle with my sewing or knitting or maybe I write a letter or two.  I read or listen to an audiobook and after Compline I often have a early night.

Today I have been making Christmas cards, a lovely thing to do as I think of all the friends I will be sending them to.  I delight in my home which I have cleaned and tidied to make sure it feels calm and is an aid to tranquility,

It is a time for thanking God for the great life I have, not regretting what  I don't have, a time to remember that contentment is about wanting what I have rather than having what I want.  It is a time for thinking what is important and resolving to pursue it.

It is indeed God-given time.

Sabbath

Sabbath is a day to delight in the ordinary things of life.

It is a day to wonder.

This day there is time to delight in the crunch of an apple or the many flavours in home-made soup;

to savour the smell of baking bread or laundry fresh from the line;

to listen to birdsong or Bach: both have their beauty;

to follow clouds or watch a spider spin its web; 

to take an extra-long shower and pamper myself.

This is a day spent alone and so has time to think about family and friends.

Whether time is spent sewing or gardening or just plain idling; it is time for happy thinking.

God enjoys my daydreams!

Sabbath is a day of delight.

I delight in God and God delights in me.

It's the little things

Sometimes I feel a bit Pollyanna-ish when I write this blog as I always want to accentuate the positives and rarely report the negatives.  I feel there are enough unhappy people and enough unhappy news without my adding to life's misery.

I've been busy today doing a few of my unfavourite things - cleaning the oven and the fridge, scrubbing bins, tidying things away - but I seem to have had a smile on my face all day.

I've realised that much of my joy comes from the little things.  This morning as I was doing the ironing I added some lavender oil to my water spray and enjoyed the perfume.  I sprayed the pillowcases and know they will be extra lovely when I change the bed.  I scooped out soap powder and laundry bleach using coffee cups with pictures of Winnie the Pooh and Eeyore respectively.  There was a blackbird singing while I pegged out the washing.  Jack's handiwork is flourishing in my vegetable patch.

I could go on and on listing the little things which have enriched my day but many are very personal things which evoke memories and bring very personal pleasure.  The best thing though is that in retirement I have time to enjoy, to savour and yes, to give thanks.

My Sabbath is beginning.  I am truly blessed.  Thank you for reading.

Easter

I came home from church last Sunday and I still haven't left the house again!  I've had a truly disgusting cold so I've gone to ground.

I think there were twenty originally!

But I can honestly say I have had a wonderful Easter.  Until a couple of years ago Auntie Hettie always made Hot Cross Buns on Good Friday but she's now delegated responsibility to her daughter so at eight o'clock on Good Friday morning I was there with a very healthy appetite. 

Easter Sunday was its usual wonderful self and once again I shouted "Alleluia!  Christ is risen!" inciting the congregation to shout back, "He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!".  I can shout louder than all of them put together.  

The cards I received

A copy of the cards I sent

Then home and back to bed I'm afraid, but nothing can detract from the wonder which is Easter.  I had some lovely Easter cards and sent quite a few myself.  There is something very special about Easter cards.  I send far less cards than at Christmas but each that I send is to someone who I know shares something of my faith.  There's much less "Oh, I have to send a card to so-and-so because I know they'll send one to me".  I've had lovely wishes in the form of e mails in response to both e cards and snail mail cards.  Thank you if you have been one of my well wishers.  As I said, I've been feeling a bit rough all week and lovely Christian wishes have done me a power of good!

A very happy Auntie Hettie

The loveliest part of Easter though happened a few days earlier when Auntie Hettie met her latest great-great-niece.  It was a reminder that God gives New Life in every way imaginable.

I am about to start my Sabbath, that special time for me and God.  I have so much for which to be thankful.

Every blessing.

Solitude

An odd pleasure this one.   From many people's perspective I spend more time alone than they would find comfortable.  I came home from church last Sunday morning and since then I have been out twice for a couple of hours and a friend called for an hour, a total of about five hours company.  And yet today I have settled for a whole day of very deliberate solitude.

Solitude is more than just being alone.  It involves choice, even if that choice is just to enjoy the quietness.  The quality of solitude changes as one has more of it.

For many solitude is a luxury they just can't have - maybe they live in over-crowded homes or there are demanding children or elderly relatives on the scene.  Others have not solitude but loneliness - although loneliness can also be found in busy places, in other people's crowds.

I could experience my life as lonely but instead I experience it as rich and fulfilling.  A pleasure to be savoured.

Deep joy

Friday evening in my house is usually a very special time.  Fridays I dash around trying to get up-to-date with the housework but sometime around four or five o'clock I will draw the curtains, go through to my bedroom, put on a clean outfit (sometimes just fresh nightclothes) and let my Sabbath begin.

I have always been fascinated by the rhythm of activity and rest - indeed when I was training for ministry my dissertation was "Is to retreat to advance or to escape?"  When I retired I thought that my life would be mostly about quietness and structured periods of withdrawal would be unnecessary.  To my surprise I have found a new depth, a new joy in these Sabbaths of  intentional seclusion.  

We all need to "have our souls restored". For me that definitely involves taking time out just to be with God.   For some it might be playtime with children or grandchildren, it might be kicking leaves or collecting conkers, it might be baking a cake or painting a picture.  We need regular times to look forward to as "me time" and to look back on as time well spent.  For busy mums the idea of playing with children being "me time" might provoke hollow laughter or for those who are lonely and housebound a day of seclusion may have little appeal.  

But the idea of seeking joy, that deep emotion beyond mere happiness should never be lost in the humdrum-ness of everyday life.  So in a few minutes my Sabbath will begin

Holy Saturday

Christ was hurriedly buried in his borrowed tomb before the Sabbath could begin.  

 

For me Sabbath is a day of delighting in God and knowing he delights in me.  But that Sabbath knew no delight, just desolation.

On the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done.

My Sabbath

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Fridays here http://trundlingthroughlife.blogspot.co.uk/2014_10_01_archive.html saying that Friday is the day I get ready for Saturday.  Today has been Saturday and has been my Sabbath.  

It seems odd really that I value a quiet day so much.  I value it more now than ever I did when I was working.  It is the day I renew my spirit and listen to God.  There is no agenda although there are a few rituals. 

The house has to be calm ready for Sabbath.  It starts with a special meal.  Friday night is not the time for a scrabble in the bottom of the fridge.  It’s the time for something carefully chosen which may take more effort than my meals on other days.  Yesterday it was a lovely homemade paella.  The evening was spent quietly – no TV, just an audiobook and my knitting. 

After saying Compline and loading the breadmaker it’s off to bed, and I always turn the bed down early in the evening and leave fresh nightclothes to be enjoyed with my fresh sheets.  Often I put flowers in my bedroom too. 

Saturday I always wake with a smile on my face.  I know it’s going to be a wonderful day.  The house smells of fresh bread and the crust is for breakfast.  There is no question of a to-do list, I just do things which delight my soul. 

My Sabbath has now ended and I still have my smile.  I have no family to delight me, my health is not brilliant but there is much to delight in.  God is indeed good.

Friday

Fridays are very busy in my house as Friday is the day I get ready for Saturday!

Saturday is, for me, the Sabbath.  Now I am not Jewish but Sabbath is one of those aspects of Judaism which fascinates me.  At the beginning of this year I decided to make Saturday very special, not trying to copy the Jewish Sabbath but making a day to refresh my soul.  For me it is a day of withdrawal which I spend alone.  Sometimes that just isn’t possible but most weeks I can manage it.   And it is very important that my home helps me to feel calm.

So on Fridays I do most of my housework.  I am not very good at house work.  In fact, let’s be totally honest, I am rubbish at housework.  Every couple of months I pay someone else to clean the house through for me and I consider it to be money very well spent.  But each week I dash through with a duster and the vacuum cleaner, I replace the flowers and it’s the one day of the week when the bed is sure to be made properly.

I also make sure that I have done the preparation for taking services on Sunday.   My quietness tomorrow is not to be spent thinking about what I will say on Sunday.

I plan my meals so that everything on Saturday is really easy.  However, Friday evening is often a special meal to start my special day.  After my evening meal I will load the breadmaker so that on Saturday I wake to the wonderful smell of baking bread.