Reclaiming the Sabbath-Why We Need Rest

At the end of a busy week all I want to do is rest. However, many times I have a lot of tasks on my to-do list that have been left undone. So, I spend my weekend trying to complete them.

More often than not, I tend to put a lot of these tasks off until Sunday. Much like I did in high school when it came to doing my homework! That makes me dread Sundays and anxious to get things done.

I have been convicted lately that I need to set Sunday aside as a day of rest. We all need one day to rest and recharge, but sadly in our fast paced, busy world, we don’t even know what that would look like.

Growing up, my family and I went to church on Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday evenings. While I enjoyed the fellowship and certainly learned a lot that helped me to grow spiritually, it was exhausting to try to attend everything the church offered.

I remember a period of time in high school where I did not attend youth choir. I had gotten to a point where doing school wore me out. I needed that time of rest on Sunday afternoons to recharge and refresh with a nap before the week began.

If you looked at our family just through the lens of social media, you might think we are so busy that we’re meeting ourselves coming and going. Well, I’m here to tell you it’s the exact opposite.

My kids’ only extracurricular activity at the moment is band. And, when it’s not marching season, their schedule is pretty calm. In fact, our family eats dinner together at least 5-6 nights out of the week. We just don’t get out in the evenings very often and we pretty much have a non-existent social calendar.

So, why are my Sundays so busy? As I said above, I don’t always get everything complete during the week. So, I have tasks that need to be taken care of. Like this blog post, for instance. I’m writing this on Saturday night so it will be done and ready to go without having to work on it on Sunday.

My goal is to actually have blog posts written way ahead of time, but I’ve not been able to get into a good routine or schedule to do that. It’s a work in progress!

Another reason I’m busy on Sunday is that our church often schedules meetings or events in the afternoon or evening. Our church has abandoned the Sunday evening service due to low attendance, but there are still times when we need to go for various meetings.

I totally understand that because of the crazy pace of this world, Sunday seems to be the only and most logical day to do church activities. I’m going out on a limb here, but I think the Church (not just mine) has contributed to this Sunday of busyness instead of teaching us how important it is to rest and be prepared for whatever God has coming our way in the next week.

So, I’m going to take a stand and reclaim my Sundays as a Sabbath day of rest just as God intended.

This is what I’m going to do:

1) Complete all undone tasks by Saturday evening if possible.

I will spend time Saturday mornings evaluating what needs to be done. If the list is too long, I’ll prioritize it and do only the things that can’t wait until the next week.

As I’m writing this post on Saturday night I am thinking about another big task I was going to take care of today. Our house was shown today so I had to clean most of the morning. I’m super tired but I’m determined to get this other big task completed before I go to bed. It really needs to be done before Monday, and I want to be able to enjoy my day of rest.

2) Have a more realistic plan for the next week.

If I get to Saturday morning and see I have a ton of tasks left to do, then I know I’ll have to re-evaluate the coming week’s schedule and pare down my plans. I can only do so much in any given week. I’ll have to do a better job of seeing how much time I have available before I start making my to-do lists.

3) Determine how I will spend my day of rest.

I hope most Sundays will look like this:

• Go to Sunday school and worship service with my family in the morning.
• Eat lunch as a family with my parents.
• Spend time reading a book, working on a Bible study, or napping.
• Cook Sunday supper for my family. (This is not work for me. I find it restful because it’s bringing my family together.)
• Go to bed at a decent time to be rested for Monday.

Will every Sunday look like this? No! I realize there will be some meetings to attend and special events at church in which we’ll want to participate. However, I plan to keep Sunday as low key as possible by not having a lot of tasks to complete. And when a Sunday gets busier than I’d like it to be, I’m going to give myself grace. It’s about peace, not perfection.

I hope you’ll figure out how you can make Sunday a day of rest for you. If you work on Sundays, then I encourage you to find another day for rest. We all need to be recharged and ready for whatever comes our way.

How do you rest on Sunday?