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.