+--Sabbath--+

It's only the first weekend at school and I'm stressed.

Same story as usual, right?

yea.

But this time it's good because i'm learning how to manage it. We read Wayne Muller's "Sabbath" at church a few years ago. It has amazing advice and thoughts on how to stay connected to God and yourself in those days when it seems like you have way too much to do for the time allowed.

But God is funny...

1) I get the i.ucc daily devotional and some days it's a bother because it's just something else to read. But sometimes it's really good and really worth reading. This morning it was about surrendering and how you just have to let God do God's job... "let God be God." Yea, I forget about that. I will get my stuff done, no matter how overwhelmed I am. I always do.

2) My iCalendar on my computer doesn't allow you to put anything in it past 11:15pm. I think that's on purpose. The best part about this is that as soon as I got my homework assignment for my art class done and was planning to hop into bed, my clock said 11:14. Nice timing, eh? Well, then I decided to blog so it will be later than that, but God's doing God's job... and i'm allowing for that.

3) We learned on our interfaith retreat two weekends ago that we need to fill our buckets. [insert witty comment about buckets] This has helped me process the fact that I have various friends on campus but only a few really good ones. With this in mind, I have to allow myself to fill my bucket. I can hear you all now: ok, ok, but what does it mean to fill your bucket?! Well, let me tell you. Surround yourself with the people that love you. Surround yourself with family who love you. Surround yourself with people and activities that allow you to be who you are and help you be the best "you" you can be. Do things you like doing. Only do the things you don't like doing when you have to. Have fun. This is why I spend the majority of my time in the Niebuhr Center where people love me and care for me and want to spend time with me. I do this because I don't want to be in my room where some of my roommates complain tirelessly and do unproductive things. I love them, but they can be exhausting sometimes. So, fill your bucket with love.

This is what I've learned. And i'm doing pretty well at putting it into practice.

Let's recap, shall we?

1. Let God be God.

2. Stop doing things at 11:15 and rest.

3. Fill your bucket.

That's a pretty good list, if I do say so myself.

On the note of Sabbath, I'm cutting a chunk out of my Saturday's so that after 4pm I do not do any homework. That allows me time to regroup, have fun and rest. Even though it's only a little bit of free time, it's good to just... be.

Oh, and let me add another point...

4. Keep breathing.