Sundaes and Sundays

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  (Exodus 20:8-11)

I love sundaes, soft vanilla ice cream with lots of hot fudge covering the top.  When I was little, my Grandma and Grandpa K would take us to Dairy Queen and I would get a hot fudge sundae with the marshmallow topping also.  Oh, how I love ice cream and especially hot fudge sundaes.

I also love Sundays.  It is my favorite day of the week.  I just noticed that Lane made an "About Me" report his first week of school and he mentioned that his favorite day of the week was Sunday too.  That made smile.

I love the routine of a Sunday.  We get to sleep in a little, but yet we still have to get up, shower and get dressed to be at church by 8:58.  Our Sunday School begins promptly at 9:00 or whenever the superintendent (ME) gets there and can get the piano players assembled.  We are usually out of church around 11:15 or so and head home for lunch.  Occasionally we'll go out to eat after church, but not nearly like we used to because we like just being home.

I don't know about you, but my body seems to understand that Sunday is a day of rest.  Because just about the time I have lunch cleaned up, my body says it's time for a relaxing nap on the couch.  I love Sunday naps.  They make me feel cruddy the rest of the day, but I do enjoy them when I can get them.  Because Jay works two out of four Sundays, we treasure those Sunday afternoons to just hang out together as a family.  It may be at the fairgrounds at the horse barn or at home.  Riding horses or the four wheelers is a favorite fun thing for us.  Lately we may be at a horse race somewhere watching races.  And sometimes in the evening we'll pile in the truck and head to the DQ for a sundae:)

At the end of the last school year, the kids and I started attending Sunday evening bible study at the church.  There are just a few that go, and I certainly haven't been faithful, but I have actually learned a lot about the old testament that I didn't know before.  I was so hesitant to "give up" my Sunday evening for that 45 minutes of bible study (which is totally ridiculous), but it hasn't killed me yet.  And I still love Sundays.

Too funny, I started writing this post (Thursday), I took a walk with a friend later that evening and we talked about Sundays and trying to keep it holy.  She commented that lately she had been convicted on this subject and was trying to prepare ahead so that she could rest on Sunday, completely rest.  I listened, thinking how I could apply her tips to my Sundays and how I wasn't sure I was up for it.  I had also just read a devotional about keeping Sundays free of work and the planning and preparations you must do for it to work.  I opened this post up to finish it and realized, ah-ha, maybe God is speaking to me about this subject.  Hhhmm...

I'm not sure I'm up to this task just yet.  I have so many questions about how to apply this day of rest in its truly intended form.  Can I do this but not that? Where do I draw the line on certain things?  If I go out to eat, am I causing another to stumble and not rest on the Sabbath?  Can I really squeeze in everything I need to on Saturday so that I can truly rest on Sunday?  Can I force my children to do all the work while I rest?  Ahhh, it makes my mind swirl.

It is one of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS so I feel like that means it must be pretty important.  After all, it is listed right there with murdering, cheating and stealing.  That should make an impact on me.  It never has before.  I'll start thinking about it.  Let me know if you have any tips for this change over.  I'm sorta a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants type of girl.  This would take a lot of getting used to. 

I wonder if it would be okay to make myself a hot fudge sundae on Sunday because I do love my sundaes/Sundays...