I looked at the clock and sighed, frustrated with yet another Sunday evening spent in a haze of laundry. Socks, undershirts, pants, work shirts, and towels stood in piles waiting to be put away while I took out the last load from the dryer. Eleven p.m. and NOT all was well.

My Sabbath Was Broken

Lying in bed 20 minutes later, I knew something had to change. And I knew where to start …

A few weeks ago, I discussed a niggling in the back of my mind that my Sabbath was broken. The gift of time God had given us with a 7th day to rest just wasn’t happening in my world. I wanted to recapture some of the feeling I had as a child on Sundays: the slower pace, time with family, and a more contemplative approach to the day.

I wanted more margin in my day for reading, walks, visits, or even, dare I say, time to just sit and think or pray. I thought through my day and realized that every Sunday had a common, time-sucking, frustrating activity: laundry. I never seemed to remember to throw in a load throughout the week, so Sunday would roll around and I would be stuck with a mountain of dirty clothes.

The simple key to my problem lay in taking that task off of Sunday’s docket.

I decided to spread that chore out over the other days of the week, using Saturday as my catch-up day. Saturday morning, while the last load or two is washing, I also work on cleaning the house. By the time Saturday afternoon rolls around, I have a clean house and clean laundry.

Slow-down Time

The result being that on Sunday, my husband and I now go to church and came home to tidiness and drawers full of clean clothes — and time on our hands. The first free Sunday, we spent the afternoon on an autumn walk, exploring a new trail and God’s breathtaking creation. I can’t quite describe the peace that having a margin of time gives me.

I luxuriate in the freedom to spend this day more as God intended, not lost in a haze of mundane chores and stressful striving. I know I need to make tweeks to my schedule still, and as I continue to explore this topic,  I will.

How about you? Are you looking for a little margin in your Sunday to help you celebrate the Sabbath? I have a few suggestions:

1. Honestly evaluate your Sunday. What chore is causing you the most stress/taking up the most time? What is the next thing?
2. Can you move the time-sucking activity to another day? If not, look at the next item on your list. Can that be changed or moved?
3. If neither of them can be adjusted, then pray about whether you really need to be involved in this activity. Or, perhaps you’re involved in ministry work and Sunday is the busiest day of the week. Make sure you’re not scheduling afternoon meetings that could be moved to a different day. As some other pastors do, you may need to take your Sabbath on a different day of the week.

What Does the Rest of the Week Look Like?

Most likely you’ll also need to consider your schedule on the other six days of the week so that you can free up some time on Sunday.

Now I realize as an empty-nester, I have more leeway because I no longer have kids’ activities to worry about. However, when our children were home, we made some hard choices. Each child was allowed to participate in one activity besides youth group, and that was it. And that activity could not include travel sports, because my husband and I decided we were not going to spend every weekend on the road. That was not a healthy, sustainable life for us.

If your children are involved in multiple activities that have you running nonstop, it’s time to reevaluate. It is perfectly acceptable to say “no” to too many activities. Prayerfully determine your priorities as the parent and decide how to implement that decision for your family.

Let’s not accept the status quo. It’s time to take back our Sundays. Creating margin in your day just may be the spark you and your family need to breathe, grow, and thrive.

Pray on!

 

Time is an elusive resource. No matter how hard we try, we can’t grasp it or control it or change it.

• We complain that there isn’t enough of it in a day to get things done.
• It flies by when we’re having fun.
• Things can become frozen in it.
• The older we get, the faster it goes.
• It’s of the essence.
• We tell people to stop wasting it.

What is time, really?

The Gift of Time

With the creation of the sun and the moon on Day 4, God bestows upon us the gift of time and seasons. This Genesis 1 gift keeps on giving. We live out our lives within its parameters: seconds, minutes, hours; days, weeks, months, years. Over the course of a year, we rotate through the seasons of birth, growth, harvest, and rest.

But how many of us even notice this gift of time or the seasons that should give meaning and purpose to our lives, both in our days and in our years? Do we fully experience and engage with our senses the passing and changing of day to night, of week to month, of season to season, of year to year? Do we build into our days times of rest, or do the days parade by in a stream of busyness and business, barely acknowledged much less celebrated?

Sabbath Rest?

As I’ve started working through The Way of Discipleship book with a friend, we’re currently studying the practice of Sabbath. The definition states the following: “Sabbath is a specific period of rest from the labors of life for the purpose of rejuvenation and fellowship with God and one another.” Three questions then direct me to evaluate my practice of Sabbath regarding these points:

• my pace of life and its effect on my soul and those around me
• what rest looks like for me, and
• how much time I set aside to rest or reflect on God

As I sat with these thoughts, I realized this wasn’t going to be a section I could zoom through, because honestly I couldn’t see much Sabbath rest going on in my life on Sunday or any other day for that matter. I thought uncomfortably about what my Sundays typically look like. Morning is devoted to church, yes, but the afternoons are nearly indistinguishable from any other day of the week, crammed full of activities, cleaning, cooking, and laundry, lots of laundry. I often intend to slow down and relax, but rarely does it happen.

God set aside Day 7 to rest from His labors. It’s a pattern He means for us to follow that’s somehow been lost in our skewed vision of time. Each day we race from work to school to home to lessons to home and then start the process all over again. Sunday is supposed to be different, as it was when I was a child. Stores  closed. Businesses shut. Families went to church, ate a leisurely dinner, napped, played,  and visited. Somehow from then to now, we’ve shed that tradition and made Sunday the catch-up day. Catch up on work, chores, laundry, with precious little time for Sabbathing.

I’ve tried to tackle this issue before in my life, but without much success. I want to be mindful of the gifts of time and rest and Himself that God has given us. I want to discover how to infuse them not just into my Sunday, but to create mini-Sabbath times throughout the rest of the week too.

Next post, I’ll look at my first attempt at creating some margin in my Sundays.

If you’d like to join me, I’d love to hear your thoughts on time and Sabbath. Just leave them below.

I’d like to thank my friend, artist Jennifer Bubp,, for allowing me to use her beautiful Sabbath collage.

Welcome to Day 22 of our Lent Devotional. This week we are studying simplicity. Today we again have to dig deep into our souls as we pray about what our Sabbath Day should look like. To explore this topic with us, just click on the link below.

Lent Day 22, Sabbath Day

Thanks for joining us!

Image: Matt Banks / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Simply Study

Short-term Bible studies for busy people.

We are glad you are joining us for a week of Bible study. Down below is your Bible study work for this week. Each day consists of two links—one link is the daily scripture reading. The other link is a short Bible study or devotional reading.

We suggest you follow the  steps below:

1. Pray for the Holy Spirit to give you insight and wisdom
2. Read the scripture portion first
3. Do the Bible study or devotion
4. Comment on what you learned from your study time.

Finally, to deepen your experience, ask a couple of friends to join you. You can start a small Bible study group at your house or favorite cafe. God will bless you for the time you spend in Hid word.

In Christ,

Jane and Mary

 

Day 1: Simple Trust

Simple Trust Scripture

 Simple Trust Devotion

 

Day 2: Simple Sabbath

Simple Sabbath Scripture

Simple Sabbath Devotion

 

Day 3: Simple Peace

Simple Peace Scripture

Simple Peace Devotion

 

 

Day 4: Simple Rest

Simple Rest Scripture

Simple Rest Devotion:

 

 

 

Day 5: Simple Restoration

 

Simple Restoration Devotion

Simple Restoration Scripture

 

 

 

Click the play button below for a little study music.

 

 

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Read Luke 23: 50-56

The day of Preparation was the day before the Sabbath. Jesus had just been crucified and had died the night before. Pilate had granted Joseph of Arimathea permission to take Jesus’ body, and Joseph had wrapped Jesus in linen and laid Him in a tomb. The desolation of Jesus’ friends and followers was complete. But the love and loyalty of the women in verse 55 is obvious.

They went to the tomb and the scripture says they “observed the tomb and how His body was laid. Then they returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils. And they rested on the Sabbath according to the commandment.”

On this Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, we think of the women and what they were doing the day after Jesus died. It had to have been the darkest of days, yet they went to the tomb and decided to do what they could. They were going to prepare spices and oils to properly anoint Jesus’ body. One commentary I read stated that Jesus had had a hasty anointing and burial, so the women wanted to properly anoint their beloved Savior.

I like it that they didn’t let the little problem of a huge stone in the way of the tomb stop them.  They went forward with their plans, and they spent that sad day lovingly preparing the spices and oils for what they thought was their last act of service for Jesus.

Oh, but it was just the beginning.

Isn’t it amazing that God had these women preparing the spices and ointments to anoint Jesus for burial while God was preparing the biggest celebration of life ever? If only we could see the juxtaposition of the behind-the-scenes-action of heaven and of earth at the same time!

You see, these women, and the world, were in waiting. They just didn’t realize what they were waiting for. The women were waiting to anoint a dead loved one, but God was waiting to invite them to a party.

It’s not quite time for the celebration yet, though. We need to sit with these women in their darkness for a bit. We have much to learn from them.

In their darkest time, they did what they could and they waited. They made a plan to go to the tomb, and they trusted that God would provide a way for them to anoint Jesus.

When we are in our darkest moments—when someone is sick, when we are going through a divorce, when a loved one has died, we need to do what God gives us to do and then we need to trust and wait.  Sometimes all we can do is pray. But, because of the cross, there is hope in our tragedy.  Though we may be suffering, God promises to use all things for our good–happy things sad things, devastating things like divorce, sickness and death. Like the women at the tomb, One day we will hear Him say, “Why are you weeping?” He shall wipe away every tear from your eyes and there shall be no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain for the former things have passed away. It is finished. (Revelation 21:4) Hold on dear one…Sunday is coming!

“Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the lamb.”

Pray on!