What Will You Do On Your Day of Rest?

When it comes to preparing for a day of rest, it helps to consider what a restful day will look like for us. We need to consider what we will do, not just what activity we'll cease from. So I have a question for you: what does an ideal restful day off look like to you? In other words, what activities recharge you?

I'm lucky to belong to a neighborhood book club that meets on a Sunday afternoon once a month. To me, it's the perfect activity for a Sabbath. It combines many things that I love and that "fill up my tank":

• social time with friends
• lively discussion
• books!
• good food
• pleasant surroundings (we take turns hosting and somehow, each of our homes feels like a haven during our book club. usually the house is quiet and the hostess will create a cozy space for us to meet - either outside on a deck or in a sunroom, or at a spacious dining table or gathered in a living room)

Take time today to envision that perfect day of rest. And then think of one thing you could incorporate in your plans tomorrow to move toward celebrating that perfect day.  Also think of ways you could intentionally add more and more of those elements over time (or maybe brainstorm one activity, like my book club, which includes multiple aspects of your perfect day).

Then share what your perfect day of rest would look like. I'd love to hear.

Plan a Meal That Will Let You Rest

It's Saturday again. Will you be taking a day of rest, a Sabbath, tomorrow? If so, what can you do to prepare for it today?

Last week we looked at starting small by putting out the clothes you plan to wear the next day (or putting them out the day prior to when you'll take a day of rest). This week I'd like to talk about meal planning - not planning your whole week or month's meals, just a plan for meals on your day of rest.

Why put together a meal plan? For one of two reasons:

• If you're a foodie, then you might want to plan a meal that allows you to play and explore in the kitchen. To make it less like work (and save making a trip out to the grocery store), it helps to have everything you need on hand. This means sitting down the day before and selecting which (new?) meal you'd like to make. And then taking the time to be sure you have all of your ingredients and going out to buy whatever you still need. This is how my husband likes to operate. Having time to plan and prepare a meal is enjoyable to him.
• If, on the other hand, you're like me and cooking is a necessary evil, then you'll want to free up your day of rest from this chore. This means you also need to plan your meals, and in particular the big meal of the day, whether midday or evening meal. Then you'll want to shop for any ingredients you don't have on hand. But for you, there's another consideration: you may want to think about planning a no-cook meal or a prepare-ahead or crockpot meal. Anything you can do to free yourself from the kitchen will provide you with more opportunity to rest. It may mean you tap your foodie spouse to be the chef for the day (like I sometimes do. Except when DH offers to cook, which is actually more often than not).

Do you have a plan for your Sabbath meal yet? What can you do today to make mealtime more enjoyable and less like work? If you do this already, let me know. I'm interested to hear what other people do for work-free (or less work) Sabbath meals.

Preparing to Rest

Do you take a day (or two) off each week? Or do the demands of life spread themselves across all seven days? It's hard to get away from everything that needs to be done, isn't it. But here's the thing:

We need rest. We were made to rest. Our bodies have limits, beyond which they lose optimal function. And it's not just nighttime rest that we need. We also need regular intervals of longer cessation from work and striving. Vacation is one way we recharge for longer periods, but our bodies need a more regular break. To function best, we need a day of rest each week. We need a Sabbath.

Yet that day of rest doesn't just magically appear. It's no longer a part of our culture. What this means is that if we're to give ourselves a weekly break, we need to be intentional about it. The responsibility for making it happen rests (no pun intended) with us. And it requires, ironically, some work to carve out that time for a day off.

So I'd like to begin a weekly post here about some practices we can use to prepare the way for a day of rest. I'm calling them "Saturday Sabbath Starters". We'll look at some actions we can take the day prior to our Sabbath that will pave the way for a restful 24 hours. In my case, I have typically made Sunday my day of rest, hence my preparations occur on Saturday. If your situation requires you to work on Sunday, then you may need to implement your Sabbath preparation on a different day.

Here's my first suggestion for those of us desiring to capture a day of rest:
The evening before, select what clothes you'll wear that day. If you're like me, that means a set of church clothes and then relaxing clothes for the remainder of the day.
If you have young children, put out their clothes as well. And encourage older children pick what they'll wear.

Try it. Then let me know what impact this Sabbath Starter had on your day of rest. We'll add other practices in weeks to come.