Sabbatheory

Last year I read the entire Little House on the Prairie series. There was a funny story about Almanzo Wilder and his brother in the book Farmer Boy about the Sabbath. Almanzo's father was taking a restful nap one Sunday afternoon and the boys were expected to sit quietly doing nothing in order to observe the Sabbath. The snow outside was so tempting and their father slept so soundly that they slipped outside to go sledding. Things went awry, dad wokes up, and, well, let's just say they spent the rest of the day observing the Sabbath.

Of all the "goods things we negelct to do" this one gets a major gloss over. I have a theory about Sabbath observation. My theory is this: we do not work (or play) hard enough the rest of the week to observe the Sabbath. Modern people are used to taking a little "Sabbath" every evening. When Sunday comes around we aren't ready to rest, we are bored. The people in Little House on the Prairie worked from dawn to dusk 6 days a week and rested on Sunday. They spent the day quiet and contemplative. I know, I know, we work hard. But I couldn't help but feel like a slacker when I read about Pa building the Ingalls' home by hand and by himself, Ma making butter and sewing clothes, and Almanzo's family cutting blocks from the frozen lake in the dead of winter so they could have ice in the summer. At night they were tired and on Sunday, they had a break.

So what's the practical application? Do we have to completely reject modern conveniences in order to observe the Sabbath? I don't think so. There is plenty of work to be done to make us tired enough to be glad of a Sabbath. And all that extra Sunday work can wait, can't it? Can't that laundry wait, can't the bed go unmade? A good start is something a roommate told me once, on the Sabbath you should, "Eat twice as much, sleep twice as much, and read your Bible twice as much." If you're at church all morning and spend the rest of the day following her advice, I think that's a Sabbath day well spent.