7 [Book In Review] Chapter 7



Basic Review
This was my favorite chapter in the book, hands down. Month 7 was about fasting from the constant stress, and go, go, go mentality of our culture by slowing down to pray seven times a day. The author calls them, seven sacred pauses. She finds an outline, verses and a focus for each pause and prays accordingly throughout each day. It's harder than it sounds, trust me. We value the idea of resting, but we don't like interruptions. As she journals her experiences, she finds the first week to be monotonous. She says, "I ruined the first week with legalism, missing the exquisite opportunity to join God in the work of redemption. I knew Jesus was offering something wonderful, but my drift into legalism entropy is strong, people."
After reading this I decided to take heed. I've been following this mutiny against excess by fasting each area for one week, but I've decided that to truly learn from these seven daily pauses I need to extend my time here, lest I get caught up in the same legalism during the first week and miss the beauty of it all.



Favorite Thoughts From The Author
"Not only do I not take God's command for rest seriously, but I act like it's not in the Bible...This pace is not sustainable. I don't want it to be. This season of life is passing me by, accelerated by a lack of boundaries."Oh how true this is for me. Our pace in life is. so fast. We have small children, and there is always a mess to clean up and a mouth that's hungry, but when the author highlighted her lack of boundaries, I related. We have so many balls up in the air, and some of those are self inflicted. Extravagant birthday parties that take a week to prepare anyone? Home remodeling projects? The list goes on and on and I'm only talking about myself here. I act like this command is not in the Bible, and I am in disobedience. Thank you for listening to my confessional.

"Artists know the value of white space. Sometimes what isn't there enables us to see what is."

"In listening to the bell I am actually listening to an invitation for union with the Beloved. In answering the bell I am proclaiming by my actions that there is an even greater Love than the loving service I am performing." After the first week, she decides to set seven alarms on her phone to remind her of each pause during the day. She found this system to be helpful, and then took it a step further. It became a beckoning to spend time with the Father. Beautiful.

"Constant prayer interrupts our ego trips and disrupts our toxic trajectories."



Word(s) That Last
"There are six days when you may work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, a day of sacred assembly. You are not to do any work; wherever you live it is a Sabbath to the LORD." Lev. 23:3

"There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his. Let us, therefor, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will fall by following their example of disobedience." Hebrews 4:9-11

"The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath." Mark 2:27

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