Sabbath in the In-Between

Many corners of the blogosphere are echoing the urge to find Sabbath rest. There is a book (Bonnie Gray's), a blog space--Still Saturday with Ms. Sandra King, and a Society with Ms Shelly Miller. The encouragement is to set aside a day, a space, a time to listen and look for our Creator, to find much needed REST.  In this season of my life it is more and more difficult to engage in such a practice. However, I woke up the other morning and heard, "find Me in the In-Between", so I've been Sabbathing there, in the In Between.
Here are two poems from that time:
~~~~~~~~
Sabbath on the Page #1**
Lunch without a phone, or a mouse
no screen, no clicks,
no taps, just drips,
the soft sound of rain
on autumn tables and 
thirsty grass
welcoming moisture
to the dry, gray ground.
Birds balance on backyard mirrors,
bouncing to the ever-bubbling bath
and back again.
Click.
Stop.
Breathe.
Click.
Stop.
Breathe.

Sabbath on the Page #2
The rain sprinkles, then splats 
on windows, pouring
silken silver down the glass.
Too few tables and
too many latte-lovers
equal No Room at the Coffee Shop.
Ignoring the equation
I've sought my Sabbath solace
here in the car
banished due to lack of space
and finding, instead,
the quiet--my own, self-contained peace--
fits well in the in-between.
The rustle of canvas as I reach for my cup,
the soft 'shhhhhh' of the pencil lead on paper,
the turn of the paper to find a new page,
the back and forth 'shuga-shuga-shuga'
of my eraser--
all simple delicacies gathered just so--
surround sound I'd never hear
'midst all that other noise.
Cocooning in the car
brings them small and close;
like echoes under an upturned canoe.
Just me and all those people
separated by running rivers of water 
in between.

**from the book 'God in the Yard', L.L. Barkat