Before I started exploring rest and work, I felt like my ‘Sabbath’ ought to involve my kids and husband in a Day of Fun. In my mind, our Sabbath would be on a Saturday, we would wake up slowly, enjoy a leisurely breakfast, play board games, go for a walk in the countryside, and frolic in fields full of buttercups before sitting on a picnic rug sipping ginger beer and eating a beautiful picnic in manner of Enid Blyton families. Spoiler alert: my Saturdays hardly ever (what am I saying – NEVER) looked like that! I used to feel terribly guilty about this. I used to feel like I should be able to rest with my kids. And Enjoy It. I do enjoy time with my kids. But often, the fact is, it feels suspiciously like work!
So I’ve started having Fridays as my Sabbath. And it has been life-changing. On Fridays, I don’t do any ‘work.’ Matt cooks the dinner (and Friday night is roast night in our house, so that is an absolute WIN)! Often the two of us go out for brunch. I nap, I sleep, I read, I catch up with friends in my favourite coffee and cake shop. I pray. We go to the cinema to watch films for grown-ups, or for a big long walk in the countryside (embracing the joy of doing this without the smalls asking ‘how much longer have we got to go?’). On Fridays, I abscond from my life for a day. Which means on Saturdays, when my kids have their ‘Sabbath’ (which begins with our Friday night Sabbath roast), I am able to ‘work’ to help them rest, without feeling exhausted and resentful. Absolute win!
I vividly remember how impossible and beyond my reach all of this seemed to me in the beginning. But if, like I did, you’re feeling worn out, overwhelmed, resentful, and (the icing on the cake) guilty about all of the above – can I gently suggest that a life-saving prescription of rest might be just what you need?