Remembering the Sabbath

Earlier this year I was reading the first few books of the Bible, and I was pretty shocked at how much the Sabbath was mentioned. It wasn’t just a ‘take a rest day now and then’ it was more like – “keep the Sabbath or we’re putting you to death” So I decided I’d try and implement that into my life.
Saturday seemed the most natural to me, instead of Sunday, because it’s at the end of the week. I’m a morning person, so Sunday morning is for getting up and starting a new week. But Saturday feels to me like when you plop down on the couch with a glass of lemonade after a hot, busy day and just sigh because you can finally relax.
At first we’d make the big family meal on Friday night, but if I didn’t get cleaned up by sundown, I’d tend to leave it….. I’d just wake up on Saturday and refuse to do anything. No cleaning, no cooking – this was my day off! But that went south pretty quickly. No one had anything to eat and there were no clean dishes. We’d end up doing a McDonalds run and everyone was crabbing at each other all day. As soon as the sun set on Saturday, I’d be scrubbing down the house in frustration. We’d do all the ritual but it was hardly relaxing.
Then I was reading a forum and the woman on it said that it all came together for her when she started centering her weeks around Sabbath. She’d make sure the whole house and family was in order before Friday night. Instead of halting life, it was like taking a vacation. You have to plan to relax, or it won’t happen.

So that’s more what I’m going for now. I do have a few rules, and it doesn’t always happen perfectly, but I at least make an effort to sleep in a bit, catch up on my Bible reading, do some family activity, and reconnect with myself, my family, and God.

Here’s what an ideal Sabbath would look like….
Friday — clean the whole house. Company ready clean. All the laundry done, the dishwasher run and empty in the afternoon instead of before bed. Dust, sweep, empty the compost bowl, make sure there are drinks in the fridge, clean the coffee maker, etc. Also I see if there is enough leftovers to feed everyone on Saturday, otherwise I put together something in the crockpot and turn it on Saturday morning.
Friday night — dinner is simple. Tonight we’re having pizza. After dinner is cleaned up we do something as a family. We take a walk, build a fire, play games, read together – but no TV. I try not to surf the net from Friday night to Saturday night, but that doesn’t always happen.
Saturday — First thing in the morning I have to bring the community garden harvest to the food pantry pick up, but after that I go back to bed. Saturday mornings Andrei looks forward to video game time right when he gets up (usually it’s after chores). Brent and I get up and eat breakfast leisurely and spend the morning reading or napping or lazing around. I catch up on any days I missed my Bible reading too.
After lunch, Brent has to go back to work, and I’m trying to start the habit of Andrei and I going on a nature walk on Saturday afternoon.
Saturday for dinner, Andrei and I make big bowls of popcorn and watch a movie together – his choice. After Brent gets home from work, and Andrei goes to bed, I make a light dinner for Brent and we have an at-home dinner date. After this, Sabbath is over.
Sunday morning is an early riser again, getting Brent off to work and cleaning up from the previous day. And the whole week starts over agian.

Like I said, it doesn’t always happen this way – in fact, rarely does it all work out perfectly. But I try and do what I can and keep in mind the point of the day and do the best I can.
Now, today is Friday so I have a lot to do – have a peaceful weekend.