Episode 09: A Prayer for Rest this Christmas

This is the Simply Sabbath podcast. You’re listening to episode nine.

When we arrive at the end of the workweek, there is a beautiful opportunity to welcome the Sabbath and the rest it brings for ourselves and our family. And while it is a beautiful opportunity, it does not come by without intention. I see you and the work you do to usher in this day of rest. You make sure the home is clean, the meals are prepped, and the activities you’ll do together as a family planned. You work with purpose the other six days in anticipation of the seventh.

Before you begin your rhythm of Sabbath welcome, the next few minutes are for you. It is an acknowledgement of the good and loving work you are doing in the various roles you have the responsibility to steward throughout the week. It is a reminder that you are not alone in this desire to live counter culturally. And it is an encouragement to continue seeking to rest with Jesus. So stop what you’re doing. Close your eyes and listen to this, my prayer of blessing over you.

Lord, today is a hard day for me, I’m away from family and friends and my church.

But it’s made me think about Mary, riding on the donkey miles away from her own home about to give birth, not in any sort of familiarity, no friends, no family, not even her own bed.

And has given me a little bit more empathy for that, a little bit more understanding of what it might’ve been like that first Christmas Eve.

To be a mom with the huge weight of responsibility on her shoulders who wanted to just give the best her baby and yet the circumstances were so outside of her control. There was nothing she could do make it perfect.

There was nothing she could do, to pull it all together to make it what she would hope for to welcome her son.

She had to just rest in your provision, rest in your faithfulness.

She just had to trust you, her faithful provider, her God, her king, her savior.

She couldn’t make it anything more than what it was.

She couldn’t force the perfect night and she couldn’t force the perfect environment, the right food, or even the right gifts.

She just had to just welcome you, in the space, in the place, the time, in the loneliness.

Lord, for the mom today, who’s heading into this weekend afraid she hasn’t done enough, who is afraid that maybe she hasn’t crafted the perfect holiday experience for her family, who is afraid that maybe there will be disappointment or maybe even arguments, or that the presents won’t be good enough, or the food won’t be good enough…

Just help her to trust you, help her stop her striving to make everything perfect, make everything perfect for the holiday.

I pray that you would show up today that you would show up in small ways and in big ones too.

That the hurting that accompanies this world would be quieted just for 24 hours.

That you would fill her home with joy and peace. That you would bring contentment. That you would give her courage to acknowledge that she can only do so much. That You would give her courage to acknowledge that you are enough.

That the responsibility you given her to care for her family, is different than the pressure she puts on herself to craft the perfect Christmas experience.

And so, Lord, I would ask that you remind her that she is enough. What she does is enough. Because you are enough.

She has nothing to fear.

You are with her. Even in the unfamiliar. Even in the unknown. Even in the moments where she feels like she doesn’t have all the answers, you are with us, Emmanuel.

Help her to remember that that’s Christmas weekend. And help her to rest in the fact that you have provided it all. And help her to celebrate that.

To celebrate that you came as a baby so long ago, So that today, she could sit with her family and say “it is well with my soul.”