I took this photo because I wanted to remember the sound of the wind in the trees, the feel of the crunch of snow under my feet, the warmth of the sun on my back, and my husband’s love and partnership by my side. This day was my 50th birthday!
We did all of my favorite things that day, which includes driving down every road less traveled, stopping to hike to rushing water and explore a trail, having coffee (there can never be enough coffee), and having lunch out. It was a sabbath day as much as it was a celebration day. Truly those words should always go together. All of life’s moments if pondered become significant and anything of value should be considered with intention.
Significance is about who we are before it is about what we do.
~ John Ortberg, Soul Keeping: Caring for The Most Important Part of You, p. 133
Turning 50 is considered a significant birthday. You only do that once, unlike the eleven times I turned 39, ha. This mid-life is finding me at so many crossroads, so many significant things have come to fruition or conclusion.
Take a nap, a walk, an hour for lunch. Test the premise that you are worth more than what you can produce—that even if you spent one whole day being good for nothing you would still be precious in God’s sight—and when you get anxious because you are convinced that this is not so, remember your own conviction is not required. This is a commandment. Your worth has already been established, even when you are not working. The purpose of the commandment is to woo you to the same truth.
~ Barbara Brown Taylor, An Altar in the World, 139
This spring has been busy on a scale closer to my pre-covid life. I needed this day of rest between the last 50 years and the next. To pause and reflect on all that God has blessed me with and to remember my value lies deeper than the checklists that I have completed, the children I have raised, and the book I have finally published.
Sabbath is more than just following rules that express what you cannot do on a particular day…Walter Brueggemann explains that Sabbath is best understood as a pattern of resistance to the dominant cultural insistence that human worth is reduced to our productivity in labor units.
~ Paul D. Patton and Robert H. Woods, Jr., Everyday Sabbath: How to Lead Your Dance with Media and Technology in Mindful and Sacred Ways, p. 11
You see how hard it is to resist the temptation to make a list of accomplishments. We want to prove we have done something that others can quantify and that gives us a sense of purpose. Anything that I have accomplished and anyone I have loved was first a gift from God. Here I am on my soap box again ranting about gratitude. It is important to pause in significant moments in thankfulness, to celebrate all the richness we have been given, and to then move forward to new work from a state of rest.
As for me, I will always have hope;
I will praise you more and more.~Psalm 71:14, NIV
Ever Hopeful and Grateful,
Melisa Turner
pollinatinggrace 