As many of you know, I love to dish about holidays, special days and the food that comes along with them in most cases! But my favorite day, I will have to admit, doesn’t come annually, it actually comes weekly and it falls on Sunday. Remember those tea towels you used to see? I guess nowadays you can only find them in antique stores, but there was one for each day of the week and they went something like this: Wash on Monday. Iron on Tuesday. Mend on Wednesday. Churn on Thursday. Clean on Friday. Bake on Saturday. Rest on Sunday.
When I was a young girl, I attempted to embroider those sayings onto a set of my own tea towels. Mine had a big rooster on each one. If my memory serves me correctly, I don’t believe I completed the task. I do still have one or two in my dishtowel drawer however.
Anyway, my grandmother has shared with me on numerous occasions about how strictly her parents heeded the “Rest on Sunday” part of the week. They literally did nothing on that day. Except worship and eat, of course. They went to services, returned home, ate the food that had been prepared the day prior, and then literally–rested. No chores. No radio. Gasp..no TV! I don’t even know if they were allowed to read. (Although I do think they were allowed to read the Bible.) And too, it was pure family time.
As I was enjoying a Sunday afternoon recently , it dawned on me that I could not blame my great grand mother for holding firm to that resting part of the traditional Sunday. Think about it, she must have been completely worn out and exhausted by the time Saturday night rolled around. Sundays were her only holiday to be sure. Vacations were not really an option for her working class level in her era. Spare time? That too was a luxury that only the affluent could afford. And if people think women back then had time to grab a cup of coffee and sit on the deck for a little quiet time, I highly doubt that was a feasible daily experience. But I could be wrong.
But back to the point. I love Sundays. Like my great grandmother, I can’t wait for my special day of rest. I take it seriously. And I have truly come to make it part of my “religion”. Now don’t panic. I haven’t slid off into rulesville. It’s just something I have made a part of my life. I go to worship service, I eat lunch with friends, but then…I head home to take a nap. It’s simply the perfect day.
I realize that not all folks have the luxury of that type of Sunday. For one, a friend of mine is a charge nurse in the emergency room of a nearby hospital. That’s exactly where I want her, and so would you, if something goes very very wrong. There are firemen, policemen, military…the list goes on. But someway, somehow, everyone needs to find their “Sabbath”. I hope that if you don’t have one, you will work towards making that a part of your life. Soon.
Just my thoughts.
S.
Ex. 20:8-11 ¶ Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,
but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; in it you shall not do any work, you or your son or your daughter, your male or your female servant or your cattle or your sojourner who stays with you.
For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.
