Today was a glorious day spent doing all of the things that one should do on a day "off". I slept in a little later, played with my kids in the pool, blew up balloons for them, watched a child do a back flip on the trampoline for the first time, spent quiet time doing crosswords on the back deck with two of my girls, shucked corn, peeled potatoes, had a turkey with mashed potatoes and corn on the cob for supper, ate caramel popcorn and watched a movie all together as a family. There was even time to Skype twice with beloved members of our family. All in all, it was a beautiful day of rest and fellowship together.
Before it all got started this morning God placed a burden on my heart. What came to mind were the many friends and family I know that do not participate or enjoy the glorious Lord's Day rest that we were intended to partake of on a weekly basis. It grieved me to consider what so many are missing out on by being too busy to take a day "off".
God gave us the Sabbath, or Lord's Day as a gift and a blessing. He created the day for us, not the other way around. It was never meant to be a burden or a means of taking away our fun. It was a gift, given to us by our Creator who knew our frame, knew our needs and knew that we would need a weekly rest to recharge and gear up for the upcoming days.
Let me take a moment to simply list the different blessings that we have found by taking literally the command to "do no work" on the Lord's Day. We are able to plan times of fellowship with our friends and neighbors both to encourage and to be encouraged, we aren't pulled in different directions on this day and can spend the day updating each other on the weeks activities, there is no hectic schedule to keep, naps are for everyone who wants one with no guilt, projects that are looming are forgotten and put aside with no guilt, and there is time to minister to the needs of others. We also do special things just on Sundays like drinking chocolate milk for breakfast or having root beer floats for dessert after lunch.
Like too many things in life, the Lord's Day rest is overlooked and pushed aside as burdensome, legalistic, old fashioned, not realistic in today's world, and on and on could go the list. Rather than see it that way, I challenge you to see it from a positive point of view. Look at all that you receive! God wants to bless you richly each week, on His special day. Why turn that down?
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I'm a big fan of the restoration found in resting in God on Sundays, having a joyful, treat-filled Sabbath.
I would love to hear from you how you keep it restful, particularly considering hospitality. We find that whenever we have people over on Sundays, which we love to do, we (ok, by "we" I mean "me") end up exhausted from the associated work. I know for myself some of it is a lack of discipline: eg, I forget to set up for Sabbath on Saturday, so I have to do the work Sunday.
Thoughts? Advice?
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