Fallow Ground

"Sometimes when I'm feeling powerless, I go crazy and color my hair." Responds a friend of mine when I asked her about her new red hair. It looks good that way and I wondered why she did it. I replied back to her, "like when I feel powerless, I want to plant rose bushes."

Really planting anything makes me feel better. It is less than 36 hours until we leave Kansas City and I am baking. What a bizarre thing to do before a 18 hour road trip! Dying our hair, planting beautiful things, and the sweet aroma and taste of fresh baked cookies.....all of these things may be ways to maintain our sanity when we really feel out of control.

I am a recovering control freak. Really trusting that God is in control is not easy. I am frequently impatient and frustrated by the fact that we are virtually letting go of one place before we know what our next place will be. Most people really do think we are nuts. Most days I think we are nuts.

On the other hand, this little time that I have away from pastoring is going to my sabbath rest. It is a biblical principle. Every seventh year, the Hebrew people were told to leave their ground fallow.....that means do not plant, water, reap anything from the ground. Rest, breath, worship and trust that God will take care of your life. This was SO difficult for the Hebrew people that they came up with an extraordinary and exhaustive list of things that one could and could not do during sabbath rest. I think that baking, dying your hair, and planting shrubs are all NOT permissable during sabbath rest. (if you are one who knows for sure, please respond so that we will all be better informed)

Now, I am wondering as I smell the muffin's aroma rising from my oven, how will I handle the next few weeks without an oven to bake in and without a yard to plant. Will I find that God is in fact in control when my ground is left fallow?