Time Out

"OK, that's it!  You need to take a time out," are words that often have been said in our home over the years.

At times the phrase was said to our two daughters as they were growing up.  Other times it was spoken between Jim and I, encouraging the other to step back and take a deep breath.  The "time out chair" was the place to go to break up an argument, or interrupt stubborn misbehavior, or allow one of the ladies to "think about" her unkind words or deeds.  Sometimes "time out" was used to break up silliness that was moving from funny to dangerous (wonder who instigated that). 

I have an auntie who has been a big part of our family's life.  She never had children of her own but she was magical with our girls when they were little (and for that matter, to me when I was little).  I don't recall her ever raising her voice;  in fact she talked in such a low, soothing tone we had no choice but to quiet down and listen to her.   With a grin on her face, she would sing us silly diddies as she rocked us on her lap.  Great Auntie would let the girls "style" her hair in funny "doos."  She loved to swing with my little ladies in her backyard hammock as she told them the adventures of Anthony Ant (an on-going tale of a tiny ant that she made up on-the-spot for the girls). 

And then there was Auntie's version of "time out"--a book nap.  She would give her great nieces a pile of books she had collected for them at her library (she was a school librarian) and tell them it was time to lay down and read.  The girls would lay up on the guest bedroom bed covered in a red, white and blue patchwork quilt and quietly look at books--no arguing, no complaining just cooperation.

I think, over the years, I have had a misconception of God's "time out"--Sabbath.  It has been filled with duty and "have tos" rather than sweet moments of delightful soothing, nurture and intimacy from the quietness of God's heart.

Next week Jim and I are off to our favorite place in the world for vacation--Maine.  I pray that we will see God's love, whimsy and care in this "time out." 

In the Gospels Jesus says, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath."