Of course we all know that the first and great commandment is "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." (Matt 22:37,39) But someone has said that the most important commandment to live is the one you have the most trouble living. For me, that would be keeping the Sabbath Day holy.
[Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I believe that this commandment is something personal between each person and God. Therefore, I do not hold anyone to my standard of obedience, just as I hope no one would try to hold me to theirs.]
No, I don't go shopping, or camping, or to the movies on Sunday. But there are a lot of things I do that I feel are not right for me to do. I've always had a problem with this commandment. My biggest hurdle is that whenever I feel that I am living it, I am so bored that I get a bad attitude about it. I know that if I "give a gift grudgingly" that it is as if I didn't give the gift, so what good does it do me to live this commandment while I am resenting it the whole time?
I personally believe that it possible to live this commandment joyfully. I want this to be a day that I look forward to, that my children don't dread. Nathan and I have decided to be better about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, especially now that we have children to set an example for. Only problem is, I've never really had a great example myself of doing it joyfully. Do any of you have some suggestions on how to make Sunday a special day of rest and worship that doesn't feel like a forced sacrifice? Right now, my Sunday usually consists of this: Get up and feed baby. Get ready for church. Eat breakfast. Get baby ready. Go to possible early-morning meeting. Go to church. Go to possible after-church meeting. Go home. Feed baby and myself. Surf the internet while I feed the baby. Play some online computer games. Try to convince baby to take a nap so I can too (because I'm tired and bored). Go on a walk. Watch a movie or play a computer game with Nathan. Visit my parents' house sometimes. Do visiting teaching. Think about writing in my journal. ;)
So you see, not a lot of sinning going on, but not a lot of joy and worship either. With meetings, baby, and visiting teaching four ladies throughout the month (not to mention my own visiting and home teachers trying to come see me) I feel like I am really busy, yet bored at the same time, if that's possible. I'm not thinking about God, I'm just trying to get through the day without doing anything too bad. Suggestions please!
[Before I go any further I want to make it clear that I believe that this commandment is something personal between each person and God. Therefore, I do not hold anyone to my standard of obedience, just as I hope no one would try to hold me to theirs.]
No, I don't go shopping, or camping, or to the movies on Sunday. But there are a lot of things I do that I feel are not right for me to do. I've always had a problem with this commandment. My biggest hurdle is that whenever I feel that I am living it, I am so bored that I get a bad attitude about it. I know that if I "give a gift grudgingly" that it is as if I didn't give the gift, so what good does it do me to live this commandment while I am resenting it the whole time?
I personally believe that it possible to live this commandment joyfully. I want this to be a day that I look forward to, that my children don't dread. Nathan and I have decided to be better about keeping the Sabbath Day holy, especially now that we have children to set an example for. Only problem is, I've never really had a great example myself of doing it joyfully. Do any of you have some suggestions on how to make Sunday a special day of rest and worship that doesn't feel like a forced sacrifice? Right now, my Sunday usually consists of this: Get up and feed baby. Get ready for church. Eat breakfast. Get baby ready. Go to possible early-morning meeting. Go to church. Go to possible after-church meeting. Go home. Feed baby and myself. Surf the internet while I feed the baby. Play some online computer games. Try to convince baby to take a nap so I can too (because I'm tired and bored). Go on a walk. Watch a movie or play a computer game with Nathan. Visit my parents' house sometimes. Do visiting teaching. Think about writing in my journal. ;)
So you see, not a lot of sinning going on, but not a lot of joy and worship either. With meetings, baby, and visiting teaching four ladies throughout the month (not to mention my own visiting and home teachers trying to come see me) I feel like I am really busy, yet bored at the same time, if that's possible. I'm not thinking about God, I'm just trying to get through the day without doing anything too bad. Suggestions please!
4 comments:
You know, once your bishop gets a hold of this post, you're going to regret it.
After church Sundays and FHE with really young kids are pretty hard. They're not old enough to teach them goofy Book of Mormon stories and playing with them for 3-4 hours straight is difficult.
I would recommend uplifting hobby development. There are things that you want to do that you never say you have time for but really the only excuse is that you haven't made the time for it. Like your composition. You're an EXCELLENT writer of poem/lyrics/satire etc and of music. Use the free time to work on uplifting musical projects you dreamed of.
I agree with Mike. I used to love reading your stories. Do you write at all anymore? This would be a great time to do that. I like to cook on Sundays, and that's kind of a good thing when your kids get a bit older. Hyrum and Emily love "helping" *cough* me make dinner and deserts. Um... sing! That's always a good thing to do! Yeah, I think I like that develop your talents thing. Good answer, Mike!
I think all of us could do better at this. Just have it a slower paced day. Now that my kids are older and can play games it is one of the only days we can all sit down as a family and play bord games together or make cookies together. We often have a family in the ward or neighborhood over for ice cream or pie so that we can get to know them better. Life is so busy. I try to enjoy a day that is just slower paced. Oh, I also try to plan my FHE for the next day on Sunday.
I've been thinking of this ever since you posted the question but just kept forgetting to respond. I like to use Sunday to catch up on recording in baby books, family photo album notations, etc. We also like to have friends over for dinner occasionally. Sometimes we'll go on a family walk together, drive to visit family, or watch our own home videos. And to be perfectly honest, we typically do our budgeting on Sunday (the Lord wants us to be organized, right?:) ) Oh, and sometimes I'll use Sunday to cook something more time consuming or complicated (than the usual meal from a box) since I have Dan home to help keep the kids occupied.
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