As I’ve been trying to figure out how I can do better at keeping the Sabbath holy, making it a delight, I’ve had several thoughts. I know from reading the experiences of others that toddlers have the potential of destroying that delight, that it isn’t the day off a lot of people want it to be, and that it is often more a burden than delight. I do not want to invalidate their feelings, but that isn’t the case for me. And there are a few key reasons I’ve discovered for why that is the case, and I’m sure I’ll figure out more/different secrets to the Sabbath as I’m at different stages of life.
The first key is having a toddler who loves church and the Sabbath. We can credit part of this to the beyond amazing nursery teachers Iddo has. She has never cried at being dropped off for nursery, but she has frequently cried when we pick her up. Along with this we have the expectation for her to be 2 years old, and we plan accordingly with a water bottle, snacks, and toys she only gets at church. Yes. Children are supposed to enjoy church (in case you were wondering). We also make the rest of the day special by eating certain foods only on Sunday, Skyping with both sets of grandparents in the evening, and finishing the day with popcorn. All of that, combined with the fact that we’ve been blessed with an amazing kid, and it definitely isn’t the toddler keeping us from enjoying the Sabbath.
The second key is taking responsibility for my own Sabbath. It is not my children’s responsibility nor Brett’s responsibility to make sure I have an enjoyable Sabbath. That is all on me. I appreciate it when they don’t purposefully do things to make the day hard for me and I believe it is part of my responsibility to not purposefully make it hard on them or anyone else too. There is no list of things Brett needs to do to make sure I delight in the Sabbath, and there is no list of things he needs me to do to make sure he delights in the Sabbath. I am a mom 7 days a week just like he’s a dad 7 days a week, which means there are things we have to do each day regardless of what day it is.
Which brings me to my next key. As I was thinking about the appropriate ways to honor the Sabbath I wondered how Heavenly Father honors the Sabbath, because that seemed like a person to pattern my Sabbath worship off of. Which made me think of two things: 1) The Sabbath was made for man, for me, it’s His gift for us, and 2) the Sabbath is probably God’s busiest day of the week, definitely not His “day off.” Heavenly Father spends the Sabbath listening to and taking care of His children. Why should I not expect to do the same? This key brings up the point that enjoying and honoring the Sabbath is not a matter of application of the law of the Sabbath, but understanding of the doctrine and principle of the Sabbath, doctrines and principles I’m still gaining a personal understanding of. But the more I learn about them the more delightful and less prescriptive my Sabbath becomes.
One thing I have learned about the Sabbath though, the primary song was wrong. Saturday is not the day we get ready for Sunday. We start getting ready for Sunday first thing Monday morning. We spend all week getting ready for Sunday. When we delight in serving the Lord Monday through Saturday it will be that much easier to delight in serving Him on the Sabbath.
I am an educator and PhD. I quilt, belly dance, run, read, and try to grow things. I am a Mormon. I am infertile. I am a daughter, sister, aunt, grand-daughter, friend, wife, and mom.
Brett L. Dennis
Mama g
Giggles
AmandaStretch
I am impressed! Good for you.
One of the reasons I’m so happy to have 9 AM church this year is that I’ll more time during the rest of the day to read, be with my family, do creative things, and be still. Tomorrow will be different, though–next week, starting Sunday night, I work overnights at another Michaels to help them with a new layout. I’ll have to sleep between church and the stake’s Great to be 8 program, then get ready for work. I’m grateful I only have to do this once, because I’ve really looked forward to the extra Sabbath time and don’t want to spend it sleeping unless I’m ill.
PS: I wish more parents had the attitude and strategies you do about toddlers. 🙂 It would make Primary so much easier for everyone!
After a couple of years of late church (1-4 in 2014) and (3-6!!! in 2015), we’re so excited to have 9 AM church again. I second Heidi’s remarks about just having more time the rest of the day. Yesterday, we had time to go on a family walk before church, have a nursery meeting after church, have a little nap, play with Malcolm outside, Skype/FaceTime both sets of parents, cuddle read our own books, watch some Chuck (only two more episodes left!), make and eat a tasty dinner at the table instead of just on the couch and a variety of snacks (popcorn is also a favorite here), have a family financial meeting, and just relax together.
To make that work, we prepped our food on Saturday, worked on our cleaning schedule throughout the week but especially on Saturday when we took Christmas down and cleaned our front rooms, chose not to do certain things on Sunday (a little work project Blake is helping me with), and talked together about how we wanted our new Sabbath schedule to work.
I’m really excited for the rest of the year with this schedule. Without nursery or financial meetings, we’ll have even more time!
What makes Iddo’s nursery leaders so awesome? We only have a few more months in nursery probably, but I’d like to make them great.
Your life sounds very similar to our life in many respects, Amanda. :brett:
Three year old dogs are remarkably similar to three year old children. :p