our first family Sabbath celebration...

Rest. Hmmm.... sounds like fun, maybe I'll try it sometime!

Seriously, the LORD has been working on my heart over the past few years concerning His commandment "Keep the Sabbath". I have failed miserably in this area and it seems that the older I become, the more involved in church that Chad and I become and the older my children become, the less we "keep the Sabbath". We work had all week and "run" hard on Sunday fulfilling all of our duties and responsibilities. It's become a bit absurd! We have no day of the week where we stop and just rest. I think part of the reason I was so sick this winter was because I rarely let my body stop and rest.

I'm not here to argue the theology of Sabbath being the 7th day of the week or the Lord's Day being the first day of the week. There are many more intelligent than I who argue this day in and day out and still disagree. I'm not sure it truly matters. I think what matters is the attitude of the heart and the desire to set aside a day of the week to rest and worship God. It took me a few years to figure out how this would work in my heart and how it would work for our family.

Chad's work schedule has him working until 11 p.m. or later on Friday nights. However, he then has Saturday and Sunday off from work. My first encounter with Sabbath celebrations came in the form of a book "No Ordinary Home" by Carol Brazo. In her book, she wrote how her family chose to combine the Hebrew tradition of Friday evening to Saturday evening for Sabbath with the Christian tradition of Sunday being the day to worship God. In the Brazo home, they begin their rest and worship Saturday evening by enjoying a Sabbath meal (in the form and tradition of the Jewish Sabbath meal) together, have family worship and then they play games together. Their family retires early on Saturday evening and Sunday morning they go to church together and enjoy the afternoon napping, bike riding, games or movies.

I was so impressed with Mrs. Brazo's idea because I knew it could work for our family. I just was overwhelmed at implementing some of the Hebrew traditions with the Sabbath meal. It's taken me at least two years to work though this and to figure out how to make it work for us.

As I've said before, I am a work in progress. Our family Sabbath celebration is a work in progress as well. I'm reading and learning more and more of the Hebrew traditions and am hoping to incorporate these traditions in our Sabbath meal on Saturday evening. I hope to blog more each week about how our Sabbath goes and how it is working for us.

For today, though, I will tell you that last night was phenomenal! It was better than I had hoped. After our meal and family worship we were all content and at peace. I think we all slept well and going to church this morning was a smooth affair (that in, and of, itself is quite a feat, let me tell you!).

I feel rested. It feels wonderful!