My favorite lilac in the neighborhood ~ 2010
I have noticed that as my children grow older our life has gotten more rushed and hectic. Being rushed stresses me out, and makes me CRABBY and not a fun person to be around. The older I get, the more aware I am of the climate so to speak in our home. I have also noticed that my attitude plays a big role in that climate. I'm sure you have all heard the saying "If Mama ain't happy, then nobody's happy". We have all been kind of on the edge lately. I have been thinking about this a lot and how I can help foster a more restful environment in our home.
Immediately Genesis 2:2 came to my mind. "By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work". Typically we don't have a lot of plans on Sunday, because it has been a gear up for the week kind of day. We like to go to church, have quiet time, and family night. Other things like homework, cleaning,laundry and all sorts of last minute stuff gets thrown in there and makes Sunday not restful. So last week I asked everyone to do their best to get all their work done by Saturday night, so that Sunday could truly be a relaxing kind of day.
Well, it sort of worked, but not to the extent that I wanted. We'll try again this week.
How about all of you? Do you have a day of rest at your home? What do you do to make that happen and what does it look like for you? I would love to hear your ideas and thoughts.
Have a great weekend!
xoxo
Rach
6 comments:
It's definitely easier without kids Rachel, but remembering back to when I was a kid, I recall that eating a big dinner at 2:00 or 3:00 at the latest was part of how my parents did it. Having family members or friends over in the late afternoon for coffee and cake also made the day different. There just seemed to be more time.Dad listened to the game on radio. My sisters might play the piano. We all read the Sunday paper.Saturday was for running around,cleaning and shopping. Sunday for rest.
I really try to keep Sunday's mellow and relexed. It sounds like you are on your way and I hope you succeed. Everything else will wait and nothing is more important than family.
It's so, so hard finding that downtime, isn't it? As a kid I remember nothing being open on Sunday, so there was no pull to grocery shop or do such things. One thing we do, and mostly by necessity, is to keep meals simple on the weekend. Eat leftovers, have dinner at the island instead of in the dining room - sometimes we have sports on the TV, that sort of thing.
For us, it's usually easier to try to make Saturday our restful day. After a full work-week, we all just want a break. So we take it and focus on each other as a family. Then we are re-energized come Sunday and we are able to get the work done that needs to be done. :)
Finding the right balance between work, play, and rest is a struggle for all of us.
We don't even have kids yet and it's really hard for us to carve out time to rest! It's such an important (and VERY biblical) thing to do, but it is so easy to let our schedule fill up!
We've tried hard to keep Sunday afternoons our "rest" day at the house. We still do some chores around the house, but we try hard to make sure we don't have any outside commitments!
We strive for the same type of Sundays. Sometimes our Saturdays are super busy because I want it all done on Saturdays so Sundays can be completely relaxing. It works most of the time. However, yesterday. Madison spilled bubbles on her comforter (so I had to wash it) and then our kitten, Lucy, escaped the house, got muddy and proceeded to come it and walk directly to the master bedroom and crawl under the quilt (getting the sheets all muddy (maybe she was cold?) so that was more laundry and then my husband mowed the grass and created his dirty yard laundry… so I did three loads of extra laundry yesterday… not very relaxing… maybe next Sunday….
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