I'm admitting it. Sundays around my house aren't the easiest day of the week. It feels like I spend quite a bit of the Sabbath day counting the hours until Monday so I 'can get on with my life.'It wasn't always that way, though. As a teenager I found ways to keep the Sabbath, though the rest of my family didn't observe it. As a college student I remember Sunday being my refuge from the mountains of homework. In my younger years, it was, as it is supposed to be, a day of rest.
So what happened? I think a combination of living with a spouse who perceives the gospel differently than I do and the fact that due to my son's extensive medical needs I never truly have a day 'off,' Sabbath observance has fallen by the wayside.
I'd like to get back to a true day of rest. I'd like to once again take advantage of a day that the Lord has prepared for me to be spiritually centered and ready for the week. But how?
President Spencer W. Kimball outlines Sabbath day observance in the following quote (as quoted in a talk by James E. Faust found here):
“The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things. Abstinence from work and recreation is important but insufficient. The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it. To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, sleeping, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day to which he is expected. To fail to do these proper things is a transgression on the omission side.”
To me, this quote is pretty inclusive of things we CAN do on the Sabbath. I love how he focuses on the positive side of Sabbath worship, not a list of things we shouldn't do. Things that, during the course of a week, might get tossed aside or forgotten in the wake of temporal pursuits.
So how can we (read:I) do better at keeping the Sabbath and claiming its blessings? Could I finally call that sister that the Spirit has been prompting me to call? Could I write love notes for my husband to find? Could I write my son's adventures in my journal?
Well sure. And looking at it in this light, I'm thinking there's a lot more I could be doing instead of counting minutes.
In discussing this, it bears repeating that Sabbath observance is personal: between you and the Lord. In the aforementioned talk, President Faust said:
"Where is the line as to what is acceptable and unacceptable on the Sabbath? Within the guidelines, each of us must answer this question for ourselves. While these guidelines are contained in the scriptures and in the words of the modern prophets, they must also be written in our hearts and governed by our conscience."
So in choosing our Sabbath activites, we need the guidance of the Spirit. I know I will be seeking it more to help in my own Sabbath worship.
How do you and your family help keep the spirit of the Sabbath?
Devon is wife to a wonderful guy and mom to a superhero. See a real live Superman at The Daily Dakin.
