‘Who am I that the highest King would welcome me?'

Part 1: The Fruit of the Spirit: Love

I need the Holy Spirit to come & stay.

I am desperate for God's presence, I cry out in anguish for His Spirit to come and dwell in my heart, in my home, in my marriage. I call out to God through my tears, my voice straining until my throat aches. I long to see and feel His tangible presence in my life.

¹Lord, hear me when I call to you for help.
Be kind to me and answer me.
I have heard you say to me, ‘Come near to me.’
So I will come and pray to you, Lord.
Please do not turn away from me.
I am your servant,
so do not be angry with me.
You have always helped me in the past,
so do not push me away now.
You are the one who saves me, God,
so do not turn away from me.
Even if my father and my mother leave me,
the Lord will still take care of me.

In David’s desperation, he sought the Lord diligently. And so will I.

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I decided it’s time to go back to the Sabbath, back to Rest. I’ve shared before about how much honoring the Sabbath has shaped me and the one thing I’ve learned is that to seek God diligently, I must create space and remove distractions, allowing Him to complete His work in me. And so each day, the first words that leave my mouth are: "Lord, I welcome Your presence."

Before we get into how I’m honoring the Sabbath (the scripture, the dinner, the drinks, the flowers, the Pinterest board), here are four things I’m praying for this year:

1. That the holy spirit will come and stay so I can be completely dependent upon the presence of God, His fellowship, and His favor.

2. That I will live out and experience Habakkuk 3:19: The Lord is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer's; he makes me tread on my high places.

3. That I will live out and experience Psalm 119:45: I will walk about in freedom, for I have sought out your precepts.

4. That, like Moses, the radiance and glory of God will shine on my face (Exodus 34:29-30).

On the first Friday of each month, I’m unplugging completely—fasting, sitting in silence, seeking God, and focusing on Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If you don’t know, the Fruit of the Spirit are:

Love
Joy
Peace
Patience
Kindness
Goodness
Faithfullness
Gentleness
Self-control

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In Preparation

The Spirit—Fasting, praying, studying, and staying off my phone!

Love. It’s such a big, weighty word, one we toss around so casually. No matter how kind or wonderful you think you are, love is something you’ve likely fumbled more than once. It’s hard to get it right, right? I mean there’s a reason why Paul started with love first.

To prepare my heart, ²I started with fasting for a day—or 12 hours, to be precise. Fasting is a discipline I have a complicated relationship with, something I’ll unpack another time.

When I got hungry, I prayed. When I felt the pull to scroll through my phone, I prayed again. And when I needed to refocus, I opened my Bible. It wasn’t perfect, but it reminded me to pause, to listen, and to reflect.

And you know what? I think that’s what love requires, a space to be heard and understood.

The Practice—Saying "I love you" and remembering love is patient.

I’ve never been the type to say, "I love you." For the longest time, I showed love only through my actions and believed it was something you should show, not something you need to say out loud. Honestly, I barely said it at all. I can probably count on one hand how many times I’ve told my husband I loved him. Because like bro we’re married, isn’t it obvious?

That thinking worked for a while—until it didn’t.

It hit me one day when I realized our daughter didn’t know how to say the word love. We’ve been teaching her to talk, working on how to move her mouth to form words, but we totally skipped teaching her to say love. One morning, I dropped her off at daycare, and she started crying. The teacher tried to comfort her, saying, “It’s okay, baby girl. Tell Mama bye-bye.” My daughter said, “Bye-bye.” Then the teacher added, “Tell Mama ‘I love you.’” And my daughter said…nothing.

It wasn’t her silence that got to me—it was realizing that I had never taught her that word. Somehow, the habit I had didn’t just trickle down to my husband, it had now trickled down to her. (Isn’t that how it always goes? Our worst habits show up in our kids, and that’s when we realize it’s time for a change. These kids man!).

That moment stayed with me. So, as I was planning for the Sabbath, I made a promise to start saying I love you more, to my husband, to my daughter, even to God. And let me tell you, it feels…awkward. Especially saying it to my husband, isn’t that weird? (There’s still part of me that wonders, after nearly 10 years together, do I really need to say it every day? It’s kinda like that episode of The Office when they’re trying to make Dwight more polite, and someone suggests he say “Good morning,” and he’s like, “I see you every day—can I just say ‘Good month’ instead?”). But I’ve been trying.

Now, every time I drop my daughter off, I say, “Bye-bye. I love you.” She doesn’t always say it back yet, but she smiles and that’s enough for me.

So yeah, keep me in your prayers with this one. It’s a work in progress, but I’m learning that love is patient, even with myself.

The Room—The space, the table setting, the flowers.

This part? Oh, I love it! I’m all about setting the table, making plans, running errands, and creating the perfect space. In 2020, my husband and I started the practice of honoring the Sabbath, and it was honestly such a game changer. So, when we decided to bring it back this year, I couldn’t help but get excited about preparing the space again.

Since we’re focusing on the fruit of the Spirit, one at a time, I thought, "Why not make the space reflect that?" I went all in on Pinterest and had so much fun bringing it all together. And I’m so happy with how it turned out. It feels like a space designed out of love and intention—just like the fruit we’re focusing on.

The Meal—Food and drinks and dessert!

You can find more on Pinterest @everydaydre

For the meal, I wanted something simple to make and fun for my daughter to help with. She loves pizza, and luckily it fits perfectly with the red theme. We didn’t make the dough from scratch (maybe next time!), but I did cut what we used into the shape of a heart. We added all our favorite toppings, and she had a blast helping.

I also made a strawberry, feta, and arugula salad to go with our pizza. It was fresh and light, the perfect complement to our meal.

Now, for the drink—I’m really getting into mixology this year. I want to start making fun, pretty drinks to celebrate my sobriety, which will be four years next month! So, I went ahead and stocked up on all the ingredients. My brother even got me these cute glasses, which made it even more special.

Sticking with the theme (and the strawberry fruit), I made a Strawberry Vanilla Spritz Mocktail, which turned out so good! And for when we said the Sabbath prayer, I got this bottle of red wine I’ve been wanting to try. For dessert: Häagen-Dazs Strawberry Ice Cream!

The Study—Ruth and Naomi; "Wherever you go, I’ll go."

God’s hand is all over the story of Ruth and Naomi. He worked quietly in the background, orchestrating a plan to redeem Naomi and bless Ruth and her descendants because of Ruth’s loyal love. It’s such a beautiful story, and I’ve read it plenty of times and heard it preached from so many angles.

But this week, I noticed something new. When Boaz was talking to the redeemer, Naomi and Ruth were right there, listening. Can you imagine how discouraged they must’ve felt when the guy said, "Yes, I’ll redeem the land"? I can picture their faces, their hearts sinking in that moment. Ruth had already set her heart on Boaz, and she longed for that connection.

And God honored her heart in the end. It’s such a powerful reminder that even when God feels distant or out of focus, His love is never absent. If we take a step back and reflect, we can often see His hand gently guiding us, working all things together for our good.

The Outcome—What I’ve learned

What I’ve come to understand about love is that it’s the ³foundational and most important fruit. It represents the very essence of God's character and acts as the driving force behind all the other fruits. Essentially, love is the foundation upon which all other positive qualities can be built and expressed. That’s the reason Paul started with love, because the rest of our faith flows out from that deep well of God’s love, given to us.

If you’ve made it this far, thank you! There’s so much to discover and grow from practicing true Rest through the Sabbath. I’ll be on this journey all year, and I’d love for you to join me!

Are you already honoring the Sabbath? I’d love to hear what that looks like for you. If you’re new to this or want to explore together, I’ll be sharing my inspiration each month right here and on Pinterest. Throughout the rest of January, I’ll continue exploring this first Fruit of the Spirit by sharing Bible stories, poetry, and a special Love: On the Sabbath playlist I’ve created that I can’t wait for you to hear!

So tell me, how do you practice Rest? Let’s inspire each other!

1. Psalm 27:7-10

2. I work from home so this is a bit easier for me to do!

3. Fruit of the Spirit: Love Comes First