After church this morning I thought about how nice the time before church had been, and chalked it up to our return to the "no TV before church" rule for Sunday mornings. Then I made connections with the ideas of Sabbath time and Sundays and lovely weather and summer-long school breaks that have been floating around for me lately. I might say our no-TV Sunday morning is a little bit of Sabbath time for us, when we enjoy un-programmed time and each other.
When the kids don't have TV as an option (that they WILL take) on Sunday mornings, they hear me when I talk to them. We have conversations. They play with toys and with each other in the couple of hours before it's time to get ready. They are cheerful and mostly willing to help me get things together for church (I lead a Sunday school class, we bring religious books for them for the service, I sometimes have a meeting after the service). We enjoy each other in this fleeting couple of hours, and it's lovely!
I'm still thinking about Sabbath time. The idea of setting aside a span of time for recreation, restoration, relaxation, enjoyment... and of appreciation of God's gifts to us. I think this Sabbath idea is or can be part of Sundays, wonderful weather of every sort, and the deliciously open spaces (to kids!) of summer-long school breaks.
We can do it!
On the Web
Gaps in the day
- Tupperware.com
- The Well-Trained Mind boards
- Ravelry
- You Look Fab
- EnergyBulletin
- my email communities
- Oklahoma Food Co-op
- and sometimes Amazon.com
My bits
Go light & local
2 comments:
Oh my! You've been blogging more regularly! How fun!
We have struggled with enjoying our Sundays and staying focused on taking that time to give thanks, reflect, praise and rededicate our days and weeks to the Lord.
The little things, like laying out clothing the night before, preparing as much of breakfast as possible the night before, setting aside time in the afternoon or evening specifically to enjoy the children outside the chaos of church social activity... those have all made the day more focused and returned it, for us, to the rejuvenating, restful experience the Lord intended it to be- where we can turn our attention to Him and the blessings He has given us.
Great post!
Dy
We usually spend our Sundays as a family, not widely scattered or scatterbrained :) but pretty much together and enjoying each other. And I'm glad about that. I'm still thinking about Sabbath more widely than even the 7th day as a day of rest. In addition to Sundays, as a stay-at-home mom of schoolkids I sort of think of their summer vacation as a big long Sabbath for the schoolkids and us at-home moms. And summer evenings outside at home are something special, too. Hmmm. Just thinking...
Post a Comment