Taking Back the Sabbath

Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is in your gates.  For in six days the Lord made Heaven and Earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath and made it holy.

Exodus 20:8-11

Almost a year ago, I felt it was time to take this passage seriously.  In a very busy and quick-paced world, we barely value a planned time of rest that allows us to relax and take a break from our labors.  Before my commitment to celebrating a Sabbath, I used Sunday mainly as a day to catch up on everything that I had fallen behind on -  mainly school work or cleaning the house.  But honestly, I knew that God wants us to dedicate this day to rest, fellowship, family, and most importantly, worship.  

So before a few weeks before school started, I committed myself to the Sabbath, and surprisingly, it was hard.  I wanted so much to work and "get stuff done."  But like any habit we want to cultivate, it starts off as a challenge, and gets easier over time.  Starting before school ensured that I didn't have to worry about my school work, and the plan worked beautifully.  As summer turned to fall, I was already in the habit of not working on Sundays.

I also discovered some other surprising benefits that happen outside of Sunday.  At school, I was more effective and productive.  We also started doing dishes everyday, instead of a mega-load of dishes every few days.  When necessary, all the important stuff with school and home was taken care of on Saturday, which gave Sunday a chance for everyone to rest and relax.  Before too long, Sundays became a joy again; it's a day I look forward to now.  Unsurprisingly, God knows what is best for us, even when we think that we have a better plan.  Huh, who knew?

Employment Update

I know that some people rely exclusively on this blog to know what's happening in my life.  Since dropping this bomb in March, and considering my last post might have been too cryptic, here's a brief update on my employment woes and asperations.

If I haven't already mentioned it, we would really love to stay in the area because of church and family, but the odds are really against that at this point.  A few weeks ago, I had two interviews with two different schools, but unfortunately, struck out of both in the first round.

But for now, I have an interview on Wednesday with a local school, and I recently sent another application to another nearby district.  If those two don't work out though, it seems all but certain that we will be leaving the Southern Tier.

June was a self-imposed deadline of mine to start looking for other schools, and I already started filling out my application with the STA - the Southern Teachers Agency.   I've worked with the STA three years ago and actually secured two positions through them.  But when it came time to accept, I got cold feet, (maybe stupidly) rejected the offers, and withdrew my name from future considerations.  I just couldn't bear the idea of leaving family and friends at the time.  Ironically, a lot of them have ended up moving away since then.  This time, I confident in my willingness to move; I think a lot of that has to do with being a father and husband who provides.  The aspect of being unemployed past September isn't even something I've considered.  But I'm relatively hopeful that I'll be able to get something considering that I am a better and more experienced teacher.

I also will be applying to a few more schools in New York as a find them.  I'm sure there are more than what I have found up to this point, but without leads from friends, it's utterly exhausting to find them on district websites.

Mentally, most of my focus has been on trying to make sure my students do well on the Regents in two weeks.  So I haven't spent a lot of time feeling depressed or sorry for myself.  Between interviewing and applying (and haven't a year-and-a-half-old), that's kept me more than busy.

Pray that God's will be done and that it's revealed soon.

Thanks!