Sabbath

"Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy." Exodus 20:8-11

Tomorrow is the Sabbath. I must be honest in telling you that in the past I have actually said to myself that "keeping the Sabbath" is one command that I can't really seem to fit into my life and week. I chose to disregard one of the ten commandments!

Recently, I had to confess this sin to my Heavenly Father and with His fresh forgiveness I began to ask Him what the Sabbath was all about and how my family can "keep it" each week.

As with any of God's commands and laws, the Sabbath is meant to bless us, not be a drudgery. So, if the Sabbath is meant to bless me and my family then it must not be legalistic, right?

I can see how the Sabbath and it's blessing may evolve and change over the years depending on how God wants to use it in our lives and hearts, but for now I have determined a few things that I think are important in keeping the Sabbath in my family.

1. Prepare for it. It is meant to be a day of rest but I know it can not be restful if my house is a pit. So, during the week the kids and I have chores we do each morning to prepare the house for Sunday's rest. Tonight I even filled the coffee pot with water and laid out the coffee cake, so breakfast would not be work, but instead restful.

2. Don't work. Play and rest! I am so inclined to constantly be picking things up instead of resting or engaging in fun games with my kids. On Sunday I am deciding to quit picking up and instead enjoy my family. All the work will still be there on Monday!

3. Worship the Lord. This means we go to church in the morning or in the evening for the late service. It also means we continue to talk about God and His blessings with our children as we go about our day.

4. It's not about rules, it's a matter of the heart. Our activities (watching a sports show, playing games, going to the pool, playing in the backyard...) may be different every Sunday but we need to let the Spirit guide us into a day of rest, and not make rest a chore because we have to "do it right." I could see myself getting fussy with my family if I had an agenda of everything we had to do or not to do to make the Sabbath "perfect." So, no rules, no agenda.

With that being said, I am looking forward to our Sabbath rest tomorrow with my family and church family!