While the word sabbath is usually used for religious reasons, the concept of taking a sabbath rest is common to everyone! The word sabbath comes from the Jewish word Shabbat, meaning “to rest.” In our family, we do not follow any specific traditions for the sabbath rest other than attending Church, however, we have found the practice of taking a rest day from normal work and obligations to be extremely beneficial to our family. It is a time when we can emotionally, spiritually, and relationally reset and prepare for the rest of the week.
The idea of a sabbath rest comes from the Ten Commandments in the Book of Exodus: “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God.” It had many purposes for the Jewish people, including setting aside time for God, family, celebration, and remembrance. It continues to be a wise practice for us today as people who look to be diligent and hardworking while not neglecting the most important parts of our lives.
What does a sabbath rest look like?
Essentially, we take a day off! Our family uses sabbath rest to take a break from the normal activities and responsibilities of the week and pick up activities that are harder to find time for. Most importantly, this includes spending time with our family in an intentional way by staying off of our phones and engaging with one another. Sabbath rest for us also includes putting aside our jobs and work communication.
When taking a break from our jobs, we often work on a hobby that is the opposite of it. For example, if you sit at a desk all day (like I do), then getting up and building something or gardening would be a good opposite. If you work with your hands all day, then reading or playing a game might be a good opposite. There is no science to this that I know of, we have just found that when we use our brains and bodies in a different way than we normally do it helps us to feel restful.
There are other sabbath rest activities our family chooses to do. Our family chooses not to consume TV and movies during the week, but for our sabbath, we take time to watch a show or movie together. We also usually have fun food nights with pizza or other easy meals to give Megan a break from cooking. For our sabbath rest, we also make sure to have a weekly family meeting to make sure that everyone is on the same page. Lastly, sabbath rest days are a great time to invite people over for a meal, we often will have friends over after church or over for dinner.
When to take a sabbath rest:
It is natural for most sabbath rests to take place over the weekend, as most people attend their religious services on Saturday or Sunday. Plus, it makes sense to take a sabbath rest when you have a day off of work. If you have a unique work schedule, you could make your sabbath during a day off in the middle of the week. Our family chooses to have our sabbath rest from sundown on Saturday to sundown on Sunday. We take the last few hours of Sunday to get ready for the rest of the week. The idea is to spend 24 hours “off” from the normal routine.
How does a sabbath rest help your family?
Life can be so busy that it’s easy to overlook time for family and friends. Sabbath rest gives our family time to focus on one another and higher things. Some of the benefits of this include building deeper relationships between family members, being able to reset goals and expectations for the following week, and a deeper sense of being rested. When the week is full of obligations and responsibilities, the stress, guilt, or anxiety over not having enough time to do “fun things” or spend time with your family can become overwhelming. Having a sabbath rest intentionally scheduled is a wise way to make sure that you are not burning yourself out or ignoring your loved ones because of your to do list or obligations.
How can I learn more about Sabbath Rest?
Our family found the idea for a Sabbath rest from a book called “The Common Rule.” It gives an in-depth explanation of taking a true sabbath day, why it is important, and how to implement it in your weekly life. The book also details many other daily and weekly habits for the family, it’s worth checking out! We were not paid to say this, I just really like the book!
Things to do for a sabbath rest:
Spend time with family
One of the main focuses of sabbath rest is to take our attention off of our work and turn it towards relationships. Having a dedicated day to focus on family helps strengthen those bonds and instill in your spouse and kids that they are important. Some of the most vivid moments of my childhood were the times when I had my parent’s full attention for a game, a story, or just messing around.
Quiet Time and Prayer
Sabbath rests are also a great time to turn our attention upward. Church is a big part of it, but it is also important to spend a little time in the early morning or late evening in silence. Sometimes these habits can become tangled throughout the week, and sabbath rest days are a good time to recenter yourself.
Have a family meeting
Our family always plans our meetings over sabbath rest. A meeting of any kind is always work, but this kind of work is focused on making sure that your family is pulling in the same direction, figuring out conflict, and are on the same page. It may not always feel restful, but it will make the rest of your week better because of it.
Play with your kids
If you ever feel like you want to spend more time with your kids, sabbath rest days are a perfect time to do so. Taking time to spend exclusively with them can be meaningful and impactful, and have both short and long-term benefits for your family.
Eat a fun meal with your family
Sabbath rest is a great opportunity for eating some fun food. Our family will often pull out a pizza or another quick meal to make it easier on Megan. These nights are also normally filled with a fun treat like ice cream or baked goods.
Have a meal with others
There never seems to be enough time to spend with people, so we make it a point to invite friends and acquaintances over Sabbath rest days to share a meal with us. These do not have to be long all-day events, just enough time to eat together and catch up.
Media night
Because our family chooses to limit media throughout the week, Sabbath rest days are a great time to catch up on some shows or a movie. We will often gather around with a dessert or a bowl of popcorn and make it a family event. One thing to be careful of is to not make it a media binge night because that can counteract a lot of the intentionality behind a sabbath.
Reading alone or together
Sabbath rest nights are a great time to catch up on a book in the morning or evening. We also tend to read a lot of books with our kids before they go to bed or before dinner. In a world of audiobooks and websites, it’s nice to have a chance to hold a real book!
Play a board game
Board games are always a fun activity for a sabbath rest day. We usually try to fit one in when our kids are taking a nap or after they go to bed. If you have older kids, this can be a great time to fit in a family game night.
Take a walk
Taking a walk is always a great option, and it is even more pleasant without the stress of needing to get back to do something. When it’s warm, our family walks down to the park or around the town. It’s a great time for us to talk about topics we normally do not get to or maybe just dream up some ideas.
Practice a hobby
Hobbies are hard to find time for, and because they tend to be different than our normal work, it can be a very rejuvenating experience to spend some energy on them during rest days. This is another area that can potentially sideline the purpose of a sabbath rest day, so make sure that you take time for family as well!
Things to give up for a sabbath rest:
Usual work and obligations
The most important part of sabbath rest is taking time away from your normal job or career and focusing on the most important relationships in your life. It may feel contradictory that you can get more done when you take a day off, but the reality is that it works! Our family works hard during the other six days of the week and tries to keep ourselves as productive as possible, and that is made easier with a built-in time to put it all away and focus on each other.
Work communication
Part of giving up your usual work also means not looking at your work email, texts, and phone calls. To find the time restful, you need to be able to engage in other activities other than your usual work, which is hard to do if you are constantly checking your phone or laptop.
Your phone
Because sabbath rest days are focused on relationships, spending too much time on your phone instead of engaging with those around you can undermine its usefulness. We do our best to keep our phones away and check them less often throughout the rest period.
Stressful tasks
Sabbath rest days are usually not days to start a new home project or engage in other long strenuous activities. The idea is to move these tasks to other days in the week, which may make those days more stressful but will allow you to truly take a sabbath rest.
A busy schedule
In the same way, sabbath rest days should not have jam-packed schedules and long lists of tasks to accomplish. We try and pack as many chores, activities, and responsibilities from Monday to Saturday to leave our Sunday open.
Does your family take a sabbath rest day? Let us know what you do in the comments!
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