Mom Heart Moments #140

By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work.

AFTER THE WAKE-UP CALL from the doctor I mentioned yesterday, I realized that God valued and modeled rest to us, and that I needed to begin organizing my life in a way that recognized rest as strategic and necessary.

So, not only did we establish our own weekly Sabbath rest day, but I instituted rest in the midst of every day at home.

On Sundays, we put away the work of the house —the typical Monday through Friday tasks. We established an afternoon teatime, so I would prepare or purchase something wonderful in advance. Around three on Sunday afternoons, after everyone had napped or played for a while, we would gather for a cup of tea and a delectable snack and read story or picture books, or perhaps just sit and talk, go for a walk as a family in the mountains, or watch a fun afternoon movie. We still do this every Sunday we are home.

I also established a rest time every day. Everyone would go to their rooms around two and have an hour of quiet time. I piled baskets of books and magazines in their rooms, and they could take a little snack with them to eat while they read during that hour. I would usually manage a cup of tea and thirty minutes or so by myself, which was a delight.

This became a parenthesis in my day, a time to sit just for a few minutes to regroup and to rest my mind, my emotions, and my body. Of course, no family is perfect, and there are always exceptions and interruptions, but it created space in my day and also contributed to turning my children into readers!

Do you have plans for Sabbath and daily rest for everyone in your house? How might you incorporate these ideas in your own way?