As the Sabbath rolls over to the start of a new week, I am, at my age and time, a little sad to see it over so soon.
I would have never felt this way when I was younger. Now, the Sabbath is not long enough. There is so much I wanted to read, family to visit. So many things I did not want to think about or have to deal with–all those things that are staring me down this Monday morning. And that feeling that I need to take action.
The responsibilities of life are overwhelming. The uncertainty of making it all work so real this morning. Yet I know that faith and doubt do not co exist. I know that I have an obligation to be positive, to be happy, to be thankful.
The Sabbath is a day of rest from the world for me. It is the millennial day in miniature. It isn’t that I am longing for a day of rest and napping, although that would be good as well. But a day when we do not struggle to make a living, fight the negative, overcome the trials.
The earth is held in a balance, chaos being held at bay. But it breaks through so often, just to remind us that all is not quite as we would hope and want.
There are so many signs and symbols that confirm to me that there is a plan, a divine being, a God that oversees this earthly life.
Seven periods of “time” in the formation of the earth and its heavens. And on the seventh period, it was called “good” and God rested. Seven periods of the earths life, each roughly 1000 years, and hence the idea that the millennium would begin around the year 2000.
This is assuming that about 6000 years ago Adam and Eve left–or I should say–were thrown out of the garden. They were sad, actually they were devastated, having the memory of another more pleasant life in the garden. There was no accounting of time in the garden, or how long they were there in a paradisaical (millennial type) state. But when they had to leave, they were overwhelmed by the world as we know it today, with darkness and thistles and thorns.
“But when our father Adam, and Eve, went out of the garden, they trod the ground on their feet, not knowing they were treading. And when they came to the opening of the gate of the garden, and saw the broad earth spread before them, covered with stones large and small, and with sand, they feared and trembled, and fell on their faces, from the fear that came upon them; and they were as dead. Because–whereas they had hitherto been in the garden-land, beautifully planted with all manner of trees–they now saw themselves, in a strange land, which they knew not, and had never seen.” (The First Book of Adam and Eve, Book I Chapter II)
But today is Monday, and I must face the chaos of the week, get my house up for sale, pay the bills, have something to eat. We are so mortal.
