Saturday's are the one day of the week that I am most acutely aware that I am a work-outside-the-home woman. That is the day of the week that I am trying to cram all the major chores into one small time frame. There's the vacuuming-dusting-washing-mopping-tidying that needs to be done. Not to mention grocery shopping, yard work, & whatever else we can throw into the day. It has always seemed to be the only day to get those things done.
My mom was a career woman, so when I was growing up this is what Saturday's were like in my house. Well, after my parents got saved anyway & we started going to church on Sunday. Before that our cleaning was spread over the whole weekend. Unless we were in the desert camping. Or at the beach picking around the tide pools. Or visiting family in another city.
Four Saturday's ago I went on strike. I was so tired all I wanted to do that day was read a book. So I did. Oddly enough, neither Harold or Evan asked "Hey, when is it time to clean the house?" They didn't seem to miss it and I had a wonderful time with my book. I even felt strangely rested when I woke up on Sunday morning, not exhausted like I normally do.
So I did the same thing the next Saturday & the next & the next. You may be wondering if my home has become a landfill. Oddly enough it has not! I worked out a system of doing chores a bit at a time each evening except Saturday. Laundry is being done on Sunday & Monday evenings. Grocery shopping is on Thursday. So far so good!
The word "Sabbath" means literally "to cease". We now have an actual day we "cease" in our home and it is wonderful! Last Saturday evening Harold observed that he hadn't done one thing he "had" to do all day, just what he wanted to do, which included writing & recording a new song. I have read three books & all my magazines. Evan has puttered, taken pictures & had a grand time. As a family, we are happier & more connected to each other.
On the website Judaism 101 I found this comment about the observation of the Sabbath. It "frees us from our weekday concerns, from our deadlines and schedules and commitments. During the week, we are slaves to our jobs, to our creditors, to our need to provide for ourselves; on Shabbat, we are freed from these concerns, much as our ancestors were freed from slavery in Egypt." It reminds us that God decreed that the Sabbath was to be a special weekly time to focus on our families & our God.
I know we always thought that was what we were doing on Sunday's but really, when your husband is a pastor or worship team leader like mine is, Sunday is a work day, not a rest day, for the family. And I am not complaining about this in any way. I love being with our church that day, worshiping God together, catching up with each other over long lunches. I wouldn't change Sunday's at all. Except for more restaurants in our small town, maybe...
Do you have a Sabbath day? Or even a Sabbath half-day? Our family is really being blessed by taking this time to recharge physically, spiritually & mentally. Ask God to show you when & how you can set aside a time of ceasing during your week. Let me know how it goes!
Wow. I need this. I definitely need to find a way to honor the Sabbath. Thanks.
Posted by: Felicity | October 22, 2007 at 04:47 PM