The Apple of God’s Eye

This past week our church had a “Sabbath Week,” when all meetings and other programming were canceled. At the beginning of the week our pastor sent out an email saying this was a time to “REST from our church responsibilities, REFLECT on who Christ is and who we are in Him, and to RENEW our hearts and minds in the good soil of God’s grace so that we will be a people who flourish under His care.” What a gift!

We were away from home during the week, visiting one of our sons and his family, so I wasn’t sure if I would have a chance to really engage with the Sabbath Week themes, but it turned out to be a richly restful time for me. We were staying in an Airbnb, and Stephen slept late every morning, which gave me a couple of quiet hours with no opportunity to busy myself with household tasks. I spent those hours in prayer, reading, reflection, sketching, and, of course, drinking tea.

One of Pastor Patrick’s Sabbath Week’s suggestions was to reflect on one scripture passage all week and challenge ourselves to memorize it. I was reading Psalm 17 early in the week, and verses 6-8 and 15 caught my attention, so I meditated on, sketched, and memorized them. Some of my takeaways from the week and from these verses are a deeper realization that God loves me for who I am, apart from anything I do for him, and that he invites me to call on him, to ask him to show me the wonder of his great love. I can be secure knowing that he cherishes me as the apple of his eye– what an amazing thought! And I am filled with wonder at the anticipation of someday seeing his face and being satisfied in a way that nothing else can satisfy. Thank you, Lord, for your gift of sabbath rest!