The Sabbath Day

A week ago I read a piece in the BBC about an island in Scotland that still keeps the Sabbath, but that’s changing.

Two quotes stood out to me in the article.

“I used to think wasn’t God wonderful to have given us the Sabbath.
“I can sit without feeling guilty that I’m not washing or ironing or cleaning.”

and

“What’s more, as a city-dweller, I hate that Sunday is beginning to feel as busy as any other day of the week. A day of rest every week is a good thing for everybody.
“I’d be really happy not to be able to go shopping on a Sunday – it would force me to spend the day on other things, more important things.”

In the Bible we are commanded to keep the Sabbath day holy.

8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work:
10 But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:
11 For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it.
Exodus 20:8-11

I love the Sabbath. It truly is a joy. I don’t worry about cleaning (except for diapers, and then I view it as an ox-in-the-mire problem). I don’t go shopping. I don’t care about any activities going on around town. I get the day to focus on our family, myself, and our relationship with God. I don’t feel like I’m missing out on anything. I wish more road races were held on Saturday here than on Sunday, but that just means I’m not spending my money on all the races and get to focus on the few that are on other days of the week.

Even when I was a kid and there was the occasional party scheduled for Sunday it didn’t bother me that I wasn’t attending because it was never even an option to consider in our home.

I am very grateful for the doctors and nurses who were working at the hospital when we were there on Sunday the day after Iddo was born. I realize in cases like that it is necessary to take care of others. Emergencies and fires and such don’t recognize the Sabbath. But wouldn’t it truly be nice if the whole world, regardless of the reason behind it, took one day a week to pause, reflect, breathe, and relax?

13 If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Isaiah 58:13-14

What delights do you take in the Sabbath?