Day of Rest

Some of my favorite memories are of lazy Sunday afternoons at home with my family. All four of us - my parents, my sister and I - would have just returned from church. Mom would cook lunch, some times something elaborate, other times simple but always mouth-watering and delicious. Dad and my sister would each do their own thing - read, play the piano or harmonica, last minute homework. I would grab my favorite sections of the paper - the funnies, op-ed, entertainment - and find a warm patch of sunlit carpet on which to read and eventually fall asleep. Of course, not all Sundays were like that but it is what I envision to be a perfect Sabbath.

A few months ago, The New York Times published an article titled, "Creating Sabbath Peace Amid the Noise". The title itself is intriguing. Regardless of what you might know about keeping the Sabbath, I doubt there are many people who would not want to know more about creating peace. It is, after all, a pretty noisy world in which we live. As I write, I hear one neighbor's leaf blower and another's lawn mower. A few minutes ago, I heard the whistle of the freight train as it passed through our little town. More than those everyday sounds, however, is the noise that lies under the surface, mixed in and hidden, steering me toward things that are not all that important in the long run. I have this day of rest, yet I find myself at the grocery store, cleaning house and cooking when I would rather be reading to my son, hanging out and talking with my hubby, or all three of us talking a walk in the park.

At the heart of the article are these questions:

But what if you wanted to revive something like the Sabbath today? What if you coveted some of that sweetness and slowness and went looking for ways to get it? What would you do? Would you commit yourself to the Sabbath’s rituals and laws? Would you transform yourself into an Orthodox Jew or latter-day Puritan? How much would you be willing to change?

Though I've tried many times before to create a peaceful, restful Sabbath, it was these questions that prompted me to try again. So the week after I read that article, I decided to give it a shot and give up anything that I considered a chore or would cause other people work. I committed to spend the entire day just being with my family. On Saturday, I cooked and prepped meals, I made sure there were enough clean clothes for the kiddo, and shopped for the essentials. Hubby was out of town so Sunday ended up being a full day with the little guy - church, home to build a fort, wrestling, tickle fights, lunch and naps, hide and seek, kicking the soccer ball around, reading, dinner, bath, and bed! It was great and I was eager for a repeat performance the following week.

Needless to say, that was a little harder to do when hubby returned home and we returned to our old routine. Whenever we planned our errands and chores, I injected, "I'd rather do that on Saturday and have Sunday to do nothing." Last Saturday, as we began the familiar conversation, he said, "Let's do all the running around today. I know you'd rather have Sunday to do nothing." "Yes!" I said with a big smile. And so we did. Though the day wasn't filled with fort-building and tickle fights, it was just as good - maybe even better. It was a quiet, restful, and peaceful Sabbath.

I'm looking forward to another tomorrow!

By the seventh day God had finished the work God had been doing; so on the seventh day God rested from all God's work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all the work of creating that God had done.