A Sabbath Reset

Why keeping the fourth commandment is essential for the health of the family

Isle of Shoals by Childe Hassam

It’s sabbath morning. I’m back to drinking coffee so this morning, unlike other mornings when I drink it black, I added in some coconut sugar and heavy cream. This is the most delicious way to drink it and I’ve been saving it for Saturday mornings. I turn my phone off and go outside to think and pray and journal. I’m here now, writing this on paper, listening to the birds sing, watching them flit about, admiring the beautiful growth in our June garden, which I know, if the vine-borers, leaf-footed beetles, and hornworms have their way, it won’t be long lasting. The only thing that survives a long Alabama summer, unless you succession plant, are the faithful zinnias.

My mind relishes the stillness and this is one of the things I love most about Sabbath. All week long my thoughts come at me like a barrage of heavy rain during a thunderstorm, pounding away at my mind with all I need to do and all I need to devote time and attention to. The Sabbath is a day for physical rest but the most surprising benefit has been a rest for my mind. A day to allow the thoughts to process, take order, take shape, or get cleaned out through prayer and the reading of His Word.

The peace is briefly interrupted now by a neighbor mowing his lawn. If only people could see or experience the blessings that come around this special day of the week when it seems that time itself stands still. I was talking with a friend the other day about how it seems that creation itself knows to rest on the seventh day. We watched a documentary about beavers and how they will work, build, fell trees, tend to their dams each and every day but Saturday. On the seventh day they are nowhere to be seen. All is silent and still. They won’t come out of their dams. You can hear them chit-chattering away underneath the dam but you won’t spot them doing their weekly duties. This is fascinating to me and people have observed similar patterns with mice, bees, chickens, and other animals. Surely we must sing, and that is what the birds are busy doing this morning, triumphantly over the sound of the lawn mower.

Families need a day to rest. Children need to see mom and dad taking this commandment to heart. Not in a way that is burdensome or out of drudgery…but out of joyful obedience.

Fridays are usually spent cooking and cleaning and by the time the sun begins to set on Friday evening, I am wiped out. I take my shoes off and change into something more comfortable and I collapse somewhere soft and enveloping…like a hug saying “you’ve made it through another week. Come relax, dear one.” I relish it…so grateful that for the next 24 hours my body can rest. My mind can process all the information it’s taken in the last week. We can take a cold dip in the river down the road. Or maybe take the 45 minute drive to the gulf to take a swim in the healing saltwater. We read scripture or other interesting books for hours because we have ample time to devote to such things. We take naps. We discuss the happenings of the previous week and what we are all feeling the Father is saying to us in our spirits.

A Family Outing by Edward Henry Potthast

In its purest form, Sabbath is a reset for the human soul and for the family. A mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual reset, and studies have shown that we need this every six to seven days. It is built into our biological needs. Taking it seriously not only demonstrates a devotion to the instructions of the Most High but it adds to the culture within our homes. It is a declaration that we, as a family, are not machine-like. In a world that is frighteningly and exasperatingly “ON” all the time…we as humans need an off switch. We are not capable of running on endless fumes…spinning our wheels on every activity under the sun. This day knits us together as we are more apt to goof off with the kids, or play legos with them. We are more likely to talk together in an unhurried fashion as we have the time to linger here. We are more keenly aware of the kaleidoscope of color we see in a butterfly’s wings or the wafting of the smell of lavender from the few potted plants on the porch. We need a day every week to turn it all off, to stop, to acknowledge our finite state, to give the Father thanks for all He’s done, to give Him a tithe of our time, attention, and affections. And He in turn gives us the rest we so desperately need. A reset for what lies just ahead.

There is so much more I could say about the beauty Sabbath adds to the family and the importance of keeping it and guarding it but I will save it for another post.

Blessings to you and your family!

Lauren