Sabbath and children.
March 22, 2008 – 7:14 amGod set aside the seventh day to rest and told us to keep it Holy. I have been thinking about shifting my Sabbath Day (which is normally Monday) to later on in the week. There are several reasons for this like, most recently I have been so excited about what God is doing in Monroe and Trinity that I come home from Sunday worship energized and ready for more. So, anyway, what I am spiritually wrestling with is the challenge of finding rest with three adorable young children. My concept of Sabbath was holy rest (I guess with the emphasis on rest) and now I am having to reconsider that because the emphasis in family (at least my family) cannot be rest, but holiness. A day set apart for God, out of the normal routine of work.
So, here is my current scenario… Monday is Sabbath and my wife is home, so I can retreat and re-create. If for some out of the ordinary reason the kids begin to unnerve me, than I can just escape. (My wife is a saint for letting me do this.) Now here is what I’m thinking… If I take Friday as my Sabbath then my wife is at work and I would have the opportunity to have my children all to myself - all day. While the idea of such fun and tomfoolery is exhilarating, I am not sure how holy rest will work out.
If you have children, how have you engaged in your spiritual journey with Sabbath? What did it mean to you and how did you find the rest and holiness?
Tags: children, holiness, rest, sabbath, spiritual discipline
One Response to “Sabbath and children.”
Generally when I take my Sabbath day, my wife does not work either, so we spend the day taking holy rest as a family. This means that during the rest of the week, we have to work hard to make sure we both get the work time we need. This can mean coming home from a longish day and committing to taking over the entertainment of our daughter no matter what kind of day we had so the other can go get work done. This works because we both have control over when we get our work done. It was much harder when one of us was working with a set daily schedule.
By Eric Helms on Mar 23, 2008