Do you every feel over-stressed? Do you ever wish you could just “power down” for a while and disconnect? Are you looking to create more balance in your life, and a deeper sense of connection to family, friends, and community? Do you wonder how your life might become more spiritual?
Check out the following article that I read this week-a powerful reminder of the gift that comes with Shabbat and how we need Shabbat in the year 2011 more than ever!
When my husband turned to me one day and said he thought we should start observing Shabbat, it was only a little less surprising than if he had said he wanted to start crocheting tea-pot cozies.
“Shabbat?” I said. “Are you serious?”
My husband, you see, is a proudly secular Jew who thinks that religion amounts to at best harmless superstition and at worst nefarious brainwashing. He’s outwardly respectful of the religious, of course, and he has adapted admirably to my request that we keep kosher at home (even as he relishes his bacon cheeseburgers at restaurants). He dutifully sits through my family’s two lengthy Passover Seders every year. But he maintains that belief in God is as preposterous as belief in the tooth fairy.
So, it was somewhat shocking when he came up with this Shabbat idea, although I knew what had inspired it. We’d been feeling that something just wasn’t right about answering non-emergency work-related phone calls at 10:30 on a Friday night, or checking email reflexively upon awakening on Saturday. We yearned to carve out a space in our week to shut it all down.
Sound interesting? Keep reading and enjoy!
http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/70048/powering-down-2/
**This will be my last Monday Morning Message until I return from vacation. I am looking forward to re-connecting with everyone one Monday, August 1!