Many corners of the interwebs are echoing Jesus-followers to be more intentional about pauses in our busy days and find a Sabbath 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 is a poem that poured out the other day when my local coffee place was overflowing with patrons.

Sabbath on the Page*

Rain sprinkles then splats
on windows, pouring
silken silver down 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 pencil lead

on paper, the turn of paper to find

a new page, the back and forth

‘shuga-shuga-shuga’ of my eraser–
writing delicacies gathered just so,
surround-sound I’d never hear
‘midst all that other noise.
Cocooning in the car brings
the percussion small and close;
like echoes under an upturned

canoe. Quiet, car-safe me and all

those people separated by

rivers of water in between.

**from the book ‘God in the Yard’, L.L. Barkat