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The Lord's Day Oct. 24, 2007
Hi Kendra,
I while ago I checked your blog and found the link to Abondante Living.
Well, the Lord must really be working on me because just this morning I found
myself in Jeremiah reading again of the importance to keep the Sabbath holy.
My question for you is what might someone's small next steps be to make that
return to the Sabbath? The website Abondante Living is incredible but a bit
overwhelming for me. I'm a mom of 3 (almost 3, almost 2, and 9 months) and
I seem to imagine Sunday without "work."
Thoughts? Ideas?
Thanks,
~kia
Hi Kia-
We never understood the importance of keeping the Lord's Day, well, the Lord's Day until almost ten years ago. We moved slowly toward change in our lives, but the bottom line is that yes, there is still work involved for mom. Diapers need to be changed, babies need to be nursed, food needs to be prepared, or at least taken out and cleaned up.
When we began, we decided to change our focus for the day. No laundry run, no tv, no big work projects in the yard. We'd do easy breakfasts, like bagels and cream cheese, which to this day is our Sunday breakfast because everything else seems to get on clothing before we head out the door.
We prep the days before- one child who can never seem to remember to get his church clothes to me in time to be ironed on Saturday now must make sure they're on the ironing pile by Friday, but the rest have to make sure they're ready by Saturday. They tend to be in charge of this because it isn't every Sunday that the older kids need their clothes washed. They can hang Sunday clothes back up for the week.
I prep lunch items that are headed for the church potluck on Saturdays. We line up shoes, pack water bottles and the diaper bag on Saturdays, too. We just try to make Sunday the pivotal day of our week, so we like to think of all the other days as leading up to the best day- Sunday! Sunday is the only day we let our kids have soda, so Sunday is now known as "Soda Sunday". I tell them it's the sweetest day, so they get to have soda  They love that.
We have even gotten to a place where we don't like to practice commerce on the Lord's Day, so I have to think ahead and make sure our Sunday meals are ready to go. Mostly, we do easy stuff like baked potato bar for dinner, or sometimes we just have ice cream- it's the sweetest day  My friend Cheryl calls Sunday dinner "Wild Dinner" because it's pretty much every man for himself there- cheese and crackers, leftovers, grilled cheese, popcorn, etc.
You can take small steps like we did and find great joy in honoring the day. I was hesitant at first, but now I LOVE the day of rest, because that's how God designed us. Last Sunday I played a four-hour Monopoly game with my 14-year-old, which was more fun for him than me, but all I really did was relax on the couch and laugh with my kiddos. Very refreshing.
And that work that still exists for Mom? Those little necessary tasks are acts of mercy. When I think of it like that, it doesn't seem so much like work.
Blessings,
Kendra |
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Another thought - Oct. 25, 2007
This is probably one of the most difficult things in our current American Christian culture, because the church has neglected to teach on this topic and many others have pegged it as pure legalism.
Fletch
www.themangotimes.com