Nothing

Sabbath is rest.

Rest isn't nothing. 

Sabbath (Holy Rest) is something experiential...active...focused.

I am guilty of doing nothing sometimes: watching tv, sitting on the patio, etc. but on the Sabbath I do my best to focus my rest; to turn my attention to God.

Now it's true that I don't always accomplish that. There are times that I get so wrapped up in something else, the "rest" that I forget why I'm doing it. That doesn't mean that every part of our Sabbath rest must be focused on God. It's not meant to be a day of contemplative prayer or meditation. Rather it is about acknowledging the giver of the gift of the Sabbath. 

The time for our walk is a gift of God. 

The quiet peace of sitting on the porch is a gift from God.

The simple enjoyment of a nap in the middle of the day is a gift from God.

The joy of family time is a gift of God.

You get the idea. 

It's not the nothing, it's the something's that are the blessings.

Sabbath has gotten a bad rep because it has seemed so restrictive. That wasn't God's idea at all. It is and always has been about what's best for our whole being, rest for mind, body, and spirit, and the blessing for each of them.

And honestly, we don't have the time to miss the gifts God is trying to give to us. 

Or another way of saying it is how Eugene Peterson describes it in his Message translation, Romans 12:1, "Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for Him." Romans 12: 1b.

The Sabbath isn't nothing...

...it is a God something!