Honoring the Sabbath

Seems like honoring the Sabbath is something that many Christians don't do anymore. Why is that? Do we feel like because it is part of Old Testament law, but isn't in the New Testament we don't have to honor the Sabbath anymore? Or have we just become so busy that we forget or don't think it is important? I don't know, but I do know that we often spend our Sundays working on projects, doing laundry, getting things ready for the coming week, etc. Sure, we go to church every week (although, as I am typing this we are not at church because Daphne is running a fever) and if the weather was nice, we would try to do something fun as a family - but that was it.

Several months ago, our pastor preached about the Sabbath. It was convicting to us. He said the it is the one commandment that we don't feel guilty that we aren't doing it. Actually, he said that we often feel guilty if we do honor it because we feel like we have to always be working. This is the commandment that God spent the most time talking about. Resting is part of God's plan. We find our value in being busy - not in being refreshed. He said God wants his people who can find refreshment, people who can be still. The Sabbath should be something we do/enjoy as a family. We can build relationships by resting as a family. Pastor Terry also says we are free of the legalism of making the 7th day our Sabbath but there is a "principle of rest that is so significant." You can listen to the whole message here - scroll down to 3/07/10.

Sunday is the most logical day for us so we have tried to actually take time to reflect as a family how God has worked in our lives over the last week. We are building relationships with our daughters - that is an everyday thing, but all week long we have so many things we are doing or thinking about. On Sunday, our focus is God and our family. No more laundry, no more projects, no more preparing for the next week. We do what we can on Saturday and the rest gets done during the week. As we talked about this, I thought, "I am too busy. I will never get everything done on Mondays. I don't want to feel chaotic and crazy at the beginning of the week. Honestly, I don't feel like Mondays are any less crazy now than before and we are taking time on Sundays to rest and be refreshed by our Creator God. Obviously, we fall into old habits easily, but Norah is the first to remind us that it is Sunday - so we shouldn't be doing any work (I do clean up the kitchen after meals, though). In fact, today, I told Norah that our babysitter is coming over to play so that I can go for a run. It was quite difficult to convince Norah that running is not work. LOL.

I am excited about the cooler weather so we can be outside and just enjoy each other and God's creation!! We are doing occasional movie nights or game nights. So often on Saturdays, Kevin will mow or work on a project while I play with/keep an eye on the kids and then we switch. I work on a project and Kevin is in charge of the girls. We are trying to make Sundays different. It is so nice to be together - all 5 of us. We have been blessed so far - and I am excited to see the blessings that come from more time together being refreshed and refueled!