Sound of Surviving Blog

For years, Sundays have been the day of the week when I go to church, come home, and eat lunch with my family, and then rush around to get everything ready for the start of the week.

I’ve always known that Sunday was the sabbath and was supposed to be a day of rest since I was younger, but now that I’m an adult, I very rarely treat it as one. I find myself instead, planning out my week, making up my to-do list for the following day, doing laundry and packing my lunch for the following day, and grocery shopping for the week; the list goes on and on, and on.

But I read something the other day that changed how I look at Sundays and the Sabbath. The Sabbath wasn’t just created for God to rest on the seventh day when he had finished the creation of the world. Yes, he did rest on that day, and he wants us to rest too. But by putting aside all we are doing, and putting aside all that needs to get planned or get done for the week, is our way of showing God that we trust him. And if we listen, we’ll get to see, once more, how amazing our Lord truly is.

As someone with a chronic illness, there are many Sundays when going to church for an hour or so on Sunday mornings is so draining that I need to come home, and take a nap. I often feel bad for that, because my everyday life depends on me to go, go, go, to get everything done and ready for the week on Sundays. The world around us that doesn’t know God, convinces us that if we’re not doing anything productive, we’re slacking. If I don’t get everything done that I need to, the world has this way of convincing me that everything will surely fall apart later in the week.

But I’ve found that when I let go of trying to hold everything together, and trust God, and take some time to rest on Sundays, everything has a way of pulling itself together. What needs to get done, will get done. Resting on Sundays isn’t just something God demands from us; it’s his way of reminding us to lean into him, to trust him. To remember that he is in control, and “that he will work all things for the good of those who love him” (Romans 8:28). When we remember that God is for us, and will work all things together for our good, not just on Sundays, but every day, we’ll realize that the world won’t fall apart if the house isn’t cleaned, the laundry isn’t done, and the meals aren’t all prepped for the week ahead of time.

We were never created to do it all; we were created to put our trust and hope in an all-powerful, all-knowing God who can. Sundays, and the Sabbath day, can indeed teach us a very important lesson: to slow down, to breathe, and to lean into our Creator.