My Calling as a Mother to Keep the Sabbath Holy

A while ago my friend over at Fostering My Family sent me an email and asked if I'd be interested in joining in with her in a new meme. She posed the question "How to make the sabbath day special for your children/family" as the topic that she had been studying and researching lately and asked if I had any ideas. Then as we spoke more (via email) she came up with the title A Mother's Calling and we'd be covering a slew of topics. This meme really means something to me as I am always trying to improve myself as a mother, wife, and homeschool teacher.

So this week's topic is just this:

Do you have traditions or family activities that you reserve for the Sabbath as a way to excite your children about the day and encourage a love of the Sabbath?

Now I've had a bit of a head start on this topic. But that doesn't seem to have been very helpful. I do not know if we really do have any special activities that we do on our Sabbath. However, I will say that our Sabbath day does not really follow what the Bible teaches. We seem to be the busiest sometimes on Sundays, which is not the original intention.

In Exodus 20:8-11 we are told to "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God., In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day, and hallowed it." Now I know that we don't have male and female servants, nor do we have cattle (well at least not all of us), but the truth remains that the Sabbath day should be made holy and we are to rest on that day.

I wonder why we do not follow this command. Is it because we are too drawn in to the world? Is it because we have forgotten to prepare everything the night before - like getting clothes ready, prepping breakfast, making sure dinner is prepped and in the crockpot? Do you think it may be because we are just lazy?

Later on in the New Testament we see in Mark 2:27 that Jesus told them "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath." So you may think that this Scripture contradicts the one in the Old Testament. I say it doesn't. It more of an addition to not a replacement of the previous Scripture. I think that the Lord is saying for us not to get all caught up in doing "no work," but I do not think He wants us to totally forget the original command. We were commanded to make the Sabbath holy.

So now we come to the next question that was posed over at Fostering My Family's post today on Keeping the Sabbath Holy:

What do you think? Are you doing things to help your children LOVE the sabbath? Are you keeping the they day holy?

Well, our mornings used to be a bit more special then they are now. I am mainly talking about breakfast. We were reserving the "special" breakfasts to Sundays usually because we had more time on Sundays (and Saturdays) for breakfast then on the other days of the week. This has changed a bit mostly due to my low-carb lifestyle change. It makes it really hard to have pancakes, waffles, heart shaped egg toast (I'll have to get a picture of this one up here so you can better understand what I mean by this), and french toast when you are trying not to eat carbs. However, I think we may make an effort to add our special breakfast back on to the Sunday menu. A family tradition is far better then saving a few carbs.

Our children (well, just the girls) usually spend every Sunday at church with their Savtah (Stephen's mom - their grandmother.) We used to go to the same church and now that we don't to help make part of their day special they go with her in the mornings. They love the worship at her church and really enjoy their time with all the children. One of the main reasons for this set up was that our church, Journey Church, had our main service at 5pm on Sundays - so it did not interrupt in our own time as a family.

In the afternoons we eat lunch together as a family and then the children take a time of rest (and a nap for the toddler.) During this time if they do not sleep, we usually spend some time reading a story together. Some days are more hectic then others depending on what responsibilities we may have at our church that evening. After the church service is over we spend some time fellowshipping while the children all run and play in the sanctuary (which if you'd ask my girls is their favorite part.)On occasion we will have the opportunity to go out to dinner with someone for church.

The evening is my favorite part. Since our church service is at night we usually get home, eat dinner (many times dinner is left overs) and quickly all change into our pj's. Once we are all settled we read our family book together and then say prayers as a family before bed.

I know that most of this wouldn't be considered a "tradition," but it's what we have been doing. I feel that the Lord may be impressing on me to take a look at our activities throughout the day and see how I can be more intentional in making the Sabbath holy.

I hope that you all join in as we delve into the topics. Be sure and drop by over at Fostering My Family and link up your post. We would love to hear some of your traditions. I pray that the Lord will be able to use this to help us grow in areas that He shows us through others words. See you next week for the next topic on A Mother's Calling.