Taking a Day of Rest

Last year I was incredibly busy, busy all day long, every day, and every weekend. So busy that I was tired...and worn out...and I looked back over the year in December and thought, "wow...I missed out on A LOT by being so busy."

I had let "things" overtake what was truly important in my life, and it was brought home to me through so many ways over a very very long time. I'm a wee bit stubborn and it takes time for me to "LEARN" a lesson it seems. At least time to get it through my thick head, think it through, then put an action as a reaction to it.

I remember last May, being on vacation when SCC's daughter Maria Sue was killed in an accident. I remember hearing the news a day after I yanked Samuel back from stepping off a sidewalk into the path of a charter bus in downtown Washington D.C. Yeah...it brought it home in a way NOTHING else could have. I had loved the song Cinderella prior to this, but after May I cried every time I heard it. My heart ached. My soul yearned. I felt sorrow for Maria's family, but this was a personal ache...and personal thing going on...a stirring. A quiet little voice told me to spend more time with my family...to keep the Sabbath holy.

Did I mention I'm stubborn? Well, in September or thereabouts I went to see someone I have nicknamed "The Magic Hair Lady" because she makes my curly hair beautifully straight. ;) Her neighbor at the salon was not there as she had been. I remember for some odd reason getting on to a subject about this neighbor hairstylist and the days/times she takes off. See, I had noticed on Friday late afternoons in the winter she was rushing out the door so as not to be late getting home before dark.

Y'all...she's Jewish. I knew that, but it didn't HIT me until that day talking with Magic Hair Lady. Y'all...I KNEW Jewish businesses closed at "Sundown" on Friday and reopened "Sundown" on Saturday (just look at BHPHOTO.com to see WHY I know this). I knew Jewish holidays would close businesses (again, thanks to bhphoto.com). I had taken college classes from a Jewish professor, and it was a 6 day a week intercession course...we didn't meet on Saturdays AT ALL and he had our final exam moved from a Saturday to a Monday. I KNEW THIS PEOPLE!!!!

It hit me. This neighbor stylist to "Magic Hair Lady" was keeping the Sabbath HOLY.

Okay, perhaps I should back up...remember the stubborn me hearing a quiet voice inside my head tell me to keep the Sabbath Holy? I had tried. But the 24 hours that are Sunday was too tough. I was staying up too late to start working AFTER Midnight so it was Monday. I was frantically trying to cram as much as I could into SATURDAY so I could take the Sunday off...and it was stressing ME out. I couldn't do it, and thus I was "failing" as this taking the Sabbath Holy.

Of course I had not mentioned it to my husband at all so I wasn't getting support in my endeavors from THAT direction either...but that's MY fault. ;)

I left that salon with beautifully straight hair, and a HUGE BIG IDEA. One I could not implement at all due to an overfull calendar. In November, the day after Thanksgiving when I had a photography session that I realized that I truly did need to "carve out" time for my family. I had to keep it sacred. I realized I needed accountability and support.

I told Dh about the now 6 month thought process and struggle. I told him my BIG IDEA, and we chose to make it a WRITTEN GOAL for 2009. See, we're big on written goals and not resolutions. We don't make many, and those we do we really strive to complete....we're not perfect with it, but we're better than if we didn't write them down. I told him that while I had been literal in the "Sabbath Holy" portion, what I now felt like was that I was to take a day of rest...a literal 24 hour period, not a day on the calendar. 24 hours...that starts at some predetermined time...and what better than with a visual clue of NIGHT FALLING?! Then I exclaimed how it was so great that even though sundown changes throughout the year (and thank you Daylight Savings Time for making it really late or really early), but even though it changes Sundown to Sundown remains just about a 24 hour period!!!

He gave me that look. He didn't get the big huge lightbulb revelation thing y'all.

It's now been a year since that voice started nagging me, and here is what we do:

From Sundown on Saturday evening until Sundown on Sunday evening, we do NO WORK on business related things or household chores that MUST be done. We don't work on school stuff (not sure if this would work if we weren't homeschooling). We set aside time to play games with the kids if we feel like it. We set aside time to watch a movie. We go outside and play. We ride bicycles. We go on trips. We do things around the house that we WANT to do but never seem to find time to do. However, there are times when something MUST be done, like a crunch time at work when Dh worked 80+ hours in 1 week....he HAD to.

I no longer have the stress of trying to get things done Saturday so I don't have to stay up late on Sunday (I still do but I can start the Sunday work related things I do to set up the week when the kids go to bed). We do more with the kids. It was freeing to us to have a day at home that NEITHER of us were required to do something, like laundry, or pay bills, or a thousand and one other things. I don't get jealous of the time Dh spends playing games, and he doesn't get jealous of the time I spend reading a book...it's our DAY OF REST and I have come to guard it closely in just 4 months!

We have more Cinderella moments now...like on Saturday evening recently (before SUNDOWN too) when I took Katie outside to swing and she giggled those great big belly laughs and told me to push faster! The neighbors were smiling at her JOY. She didn't want to stop swinging, then finally she moved on to the slide and I had to stand RIGHT THERE and she played with me so happily and excitedly...a perfect memory in my mind now.

Oh...and for those who are wondering. If Sunday had not fit in with how things would have to be for our family, then we could have chosen another day such as sundown Friday until sundown Saturday...or even a weekday if neither of us worked on a weekday. The day of the week is not important in this for me, it was a day that we could decide on was going to be the best day for us to spend as a FAMILY. Yes I still cook, but it does not seem like a chore. :)