Sabbath

In the years since I have stopped working a second job for the cable company and have focused solely on my ministry work, I have consistently taken a sabbath each week.  On occasion I have to forgo my day of rest, but I would say that 9 times out of 10, on a Monday I am available only to my family, and do no thinking or laboring towards my ministry efforts.  While it has always been a needed time of rest and retreat, it hasn't always been as life-giving as other disciplines in my life like worship, prayer, study, fellowship, service...

I was in conversation with my spiritual director about my practice of sabbath, and he suggested that I find ways to engage on my sabbath; not just retreat from the world, but engage in some particular activity that I find enjoyable for its own sake.  In particular he asked about a 'creative' outlet.

Now, I have some ability at drawing, but its never excited much passion in me, I have a passable ability at guitar, but my passion there lies in worship not in creating music, I like to write, but very little of my writing is 'creative.'  I have, however, long been passionate about building things.  In recent years that has largely taken the form of fixing up the two houses that we own, which, obviously, is not very 'creative' either.  Even more problematic for the practice of sabbath, it just isn't retreat from work.  I derive an income from it, I have deadlines and expectations, it is work.

And so, I have turned my hand back to building furniture...

I have built a few pieces over the years, only one or two that I felt 'proud' of, but have always enjoyed it.  In the last two months of sabbaths I have built a small table, and a wooden offering box for use in our worship service.

Here is the lid and the box before I added the straps to the lid and attached the lid to the box: