
Rediscovering the Gift of Rest
Does your family practice biblical Sabbath? What the heck does that even mean?!
Growing up my dad was a lead pastor of a church plant and we were not allowed to work on Sundays. Now, if you know what a “church plant” is then you know that we were definitely WORKING hard on Sabbath! I love the heart behind what my parents were teaching me in this though--Sabbath was about honoring the Lord's day by keeping it free from busyness and focused on worship and spiritual refreshment. Fast-forward three decades and I'm now learning to appreciate the gift of Sabbath in a whole new way from the viewpoint of a mom. Can you relate?
While some of us may be in a season of what feels like "impossible rest," because you have a newborn or toddler who often controls your schedule, I have learned that when we don't honor the Sabbath we miss out on participating in God's design for us and the faith that grows in us when we trust Him with this day (even though it may look different with young children). I'm so thankful for my friend, Eryn Lynum, and the studies she has shared with myself and many other mamas on this topic. As a master naturalist and Bible teacher, she has so many interesting truths to share on how God wove rest into creation and how we, too, need deep rest for our own souls. I finally published my interview with her this week and can't stop listening to the golden nugget clips! I love how she reminds us that God's design for rest is woven into creation and we need to learn from it!

God’s Design for Rest in Creation
In our conversation on Sabbath, Eryn shares the Biblical foundation for rest and how we can see it all throughout creation. We first are introduced to rest in the creation story (Genesis 2) but we can look outside and still see creation thriving on cycles of resting today. My favorite example of rest that Eryn shared was the life of the hummingbird. Hummingbirds are capable of doing extremely hard work, like beating their wings THOUSANDS of times per minute! However, they are capable of doing such hard work with their little bodies because of "torpor." This short state of deep rest and lowered heart rate enables their body to be capable of intense work later. We can learn from hummingbirds!

We Miss Out When We
Neglect the Sabbath
We have been sold the lie that we need to hustle, work everyday, and sleep sparingly in order to live efficient, fulfilling, and even God-honoring lives. Nothing could be further from the truth. When we're addicted to production, tasks, and busyness, we miss out on the sacred joy of simply being together with the Lord, and enjoying His presence and the presence of the loved ones around us. We also miss out on the spiritual rest He KNOWS our souls need. One thing I learned is that when we neglect the Sabbath, we miss out on growing our faith in the Lord. We have to TRUST that God will provide the time needed to get all the things we need to get done on six days instead of seven. We have to trust that He will provide for our needs on the seventh day. We get to grow in our trust that whatever we don't finish up on the six days of work planned, can actually wait. We give the Sabbath to Him. We can trust that God's math works! (I love this takeaway from my interview!)

What Sabbath Looks Like in a Busy Life
Sabbath doesn't just happen. We have to intentionally plan for it. Once we plan for it, how do we know what we should actually "do" during that time? I love this simple tip that Eryn shared:
make a list of what activities steal your joy/peace
a list of what you find joy/peace in doing
a time you can dedicate to the Lord (even if it's just half a day at first)
Once you make those short lists you know what NOT to do on Sabbath, you have some options of what TO DO, and you know WHEN to do it. In our family we opt in for screen time on Sabbath. It's one of the ways we connect and make memories together through games, movies, and fun! We don't do screen time during the week, so this works well for us. Some families might opt out of any tech. Every family is unique and needs to set their own boundaries. We do our best to unplug in other ways to slow down and BE PRESENT with our family. Sabbath for our family might mean going to the gym to play basketball together, reading, napping, writing, worshipping, etc. I try to make sure that our weekend chores are done on Friday night (before family pizza movie night) so that we can rest on Saturdays together. How do you best experience God? On Sabbath, do that! God wants us to DELIGHT in Him, especially on the Sabbath! Soak in creation on a hike, create, adventure, work on a life-giving project that you keep putting off, rest in God's Word, and seek His face. God designed rest as a gift to us! We NEED to be realigned with Him and brought back to what is really important in this life--Sabbath can help us do just that. Most importantly, as a parent, our kids need to see us model this. They need to know that rest isn't just necessary, but sacred. As Eryn says, "When we rest, we trust that God is in control." For me personally, it's been challenging to honor this as a family because I love doing things for the Lord and others! I also love doing what I want to do when I want to do it because I'm a selfish sinful human being! It's true! I'm learning to let go of certain tasks that can wait, and finding joy in spiritual refreshment from practicing Sabbath as a family. It looks a little different for us right now with a one year old, but we help one another get some down time as a family team. I pray you can hear God's invitation to finding joy in Him and nourishment for your soul by spending Sabbath honoring Him.
For deeper insights on this topic, Practicing Sabbath as a Family, check out episode 13 on the Only Love Today Podcast! If you haven't subscribed on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or however you listen to your podcast I encourage you to do so! You can also watch full episodes and shorts on YouTube HERE with my YouTube channel, Only Love Today Mom.
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