“By the seventh day God had finished the work He had been doing; so on the seventh day He rested from all His work. And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it He had rested from all the work of creating that He had done.” Genesis 2: 2-3 NIV

A beautiful way to start the Sabbath. Thank You, God!

The Lord’s Day, a day of rest, the Sabbath, Sunday; all of these are names for the same day, the day we observe as God’s day of rest after the completion of creation. We all observe this day in different ways and with different activities. For many Christians (but by no means, all) it begins with a church service and then maybe a meal out and time with the kids or “relaxing” activities.

In the early years of our marriage, my husband and I both worked, so weekends were for all that didn’t get done during the week; cleaning the house, yard work, washing clothes, etc. We tried our best to complete all on Saturday, but we “did what we had to do” on Sundays, too. We used the excuse that we were simply “getting our ox out of the pit”. When the kids came along, Sundays became church day and usually a meal out and then time with the kids and whatever activity they chose. This was partly due to the fact that my husband didn’t get to spend as much time with them during the week and this was his “make up” time. Mark’s hardest times though were Sunday evenings, when thoughts of work intruded and mental plans for the next work week began along with the stress.

As we have matured as Christians, we have tried to be more dedicated to keeping our Sundays more of a day of rest; not just physical rest, but mental rest as well, rest for our souls. Our Sundays have become a day for attending church or just being outside in “big church”, God’s creation. We spend time enjoying the outdoors whenever possible and in conversation or just companionable silence. Sundays tend to be times for contemplation and physical and mental down time. Thoughts tend to go to our blessings, how God has helped us and those we’ve prayed for. Spending time with God on His blessed and holy day has become one of our greatest blessings!

I love to watch the hummingbird feeder on Sunday and catch our female Ruby-throated hummingbird sipping!

Everyone celebrates the Sabbath differently. There is no “right way” to rest as God commands. There is no list of do’s and don’ts. We each must choose our own path for our Sabbath. I think the one important guideline is that we accept God’s example to rest; to spend some of our day in physical and mental down time and to spend some of that time with God.

This week really enjoy your Sabbath day! Take some time to unwind from your weekly work and refresh yourself in God’s day of rest. Let’s take that day of rest as God’s gift and enjoy it!

I thank God for each of you! And I thank you for joining me today to talk about enjoying the Sabbath.