Mirror Check: You are Ordered to Trust

By: Gabriela Yareliz

Have you ever been ditched or left on your own to figure something out? Maybe, it was a trip where no one planned or an obstacle emerged, and you were left to figure it out; maybe, it was a group project or something at work that needed to be built out and no one knew what they were doing or cared enough, so it ended up on your plate; maybe, it was a health situation, where no one had answers. In my coaching programs, I have heard many mothers feel alone and feel the overwhelm of their responsibility. Being left alone to figure stuff out is hard and exhausting.

Sometimes, life in general has us like:

Exodus 20:8-11 (our mirror check) states: “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 within 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 day and made it holy.” (ESV)

The commandment to keep the Sabbath day holy is a profound one. We could do a whole series on just the Sabbath, but I want to touch on my favorite thing about Sabbath here. This is your PSA that you are not alone. God says, “Remember.” The Sabbath goes all the way back to creation, where God rested on the seventh day, knowing we would need rest. (God always sets the example; He wants us to mirror Him. He is a do-as-I-do not do-as-I-say kind of God. The real deal.).

It’s important to go back to creation and the beginning because the Sabbath is a marker where we acknowledge God as creator. This is a pretty big deal. The whole point is we stop striving and acting like we got to figure this thing out. Instead, we take a step back and rest, acknowledging that if He is Creator of the universe, He has got us. He will provide for us. He will guide us. He is connecting with us.

Rest is a cure for many things. It is definitely an oasis to our weekly wanderings through this desert called life. Each week, God calls us to pause. To remember who we are in relation to Him and to remember who He is. He asks us to allow others to have that same opportunity to connect and rest. We don’t always have to be on and striving and plotting. We are commanded to take a break. We are commanded to release the illusion of control that we have.

The Ten Commandments serve as a reminder of the bare minimum that makes us human. The need for rest is human. This isn’t a command to be ignored or be seen as a weak request. He has asked us to rest in Him.

Mirror Check Questions: Where am I striving without break? Where do I need to release control? Where can I rest in Him, trusting that He has got me? How can I share this idea of rest with those around me? How can I make Sabbath special and a day set apart? How can I deepen my connection to God each day and each week?

Rest is not easy, but it is worth it. It brings us closer to who He wants us to be.