Sabbath Contemplations Continued...

Well, it has been five weeks since I first started my "sabbath experiment". (You can read about that here.) Was it a success? Yes and no. I started out with some basic goals to help me keep the sabbath holy. Yet it seemed as if the very first Sunday I started things became unusually busy.

The first Sunday things were going along quite well. I read my devotional, my book of Puritan prayers I got for Christmas and I started a little prayer book. Then later that evening, my dad expressed a desire to take me to "The Blind Side" at the movie theater. First of all, I had been dying to see this movie for a really long time, but I was willing to stay home in order to keep my resolution. However, after much prayer, I decided it was more important to honor my father's wishes than to be legalistic. Resolution number 4 broken.

The second Sunday we hadn't even gotten home from church when mom asked me to go to a baby shower for her as she was tired and had to go out later that evening. It was very important to her so I went, had a good time, and came home just in time for mom to ask me to clean up the house and cook dinner for Dad, Christopher, Emily and myself. Resolution number 6 broken.

By the third Sunday it was getting hard to keep from breaking the rules. It was especially hard to stay off the computer and away from the TV! It had been rather cold and we would build a fire every evening. It was nice to sit by the fire and knit but as our TV is right next to the fire and there is Sunday afternoon football...well, you get the picture. Resolution number 1 broken.

By the time the fourth Sunday rolled around I had broken almost all of my lofty goals. I think the only two I kept 100% were not doing homework and only reading spiritual or uplifting books. So in terms of "rules" my experiment didn't go so well. But on the other hand, a lot of good came from this experiment. Here are some of the good things:

1. First of all, I am so glad that we are covered by God's grace and are no longer under the law because I have learned how easy it is to break rules!!!
2. Since I was only allowed to read spiritual or uplifting books (and I get kind of tired of just spiritual books) I read a lot of poetry, which I truly enjoyed!
3. I had time to write thank you notes and notes of encouragement, which is something I've been wanting to do more of.
4. I got a lot of knitting done. (Two washcloths, three dishcloths, and I'm starting a scarf next!)
5. I started a prayer book in which I wrote down some favorite verses, passages, songs, and prayers.
6. I noticed that spending more time with God on Sundays made me think about Him more during the week.
7. I started looking forward to Sundays! Sunday has never been my favorite day, so the fact that I started looking forward to it is amazing.

I would encourage you to go beyond an "experiment". Instead of doing it for one sunday (or four)--make keeping the sabbath holy a part of your weekly routine! It's well worth the effort!!!