Comedian Tim Hawkins has said, “Whoever wrote the song ‘Easy Like Sunday Morning’ never took kids to church.”
I think that a lot of us have experienced what I would call a typical hectic Sunday morning. Some of my personal challenges have included oversleeping an alarm, an ill-timed diaper change, fighting bad attitudes or having fighting kids, running out of cereal, a car being out of gas, a spousal disagreement, unclear after-church dinner plans, wrinkled clothes, and my personal favorite; the missing dress shoe.
Once I received a call from my own house as I was pulling into the church driveway: “Mom? Um, I am at home. I could not find my shoe.” I thought our son went to church with Daddy, and Daddy thought he went with me.
All of this chaos REALLY puts one in the mood to worship the Lord. If the fruits of the Spirit are peace, joy and love, then morning worship like this is sour grapes. I think this is extra enjoyable if you are the preacher’s family, or if you immediately have to get out of the car and teach your Sunday School class. Sigh.
But you know God didn’t make it this way, right? In fact He desires our rest more than we do. He desires our fellowship with Him in worship, more than we do. And we NEED it. We need it like we need food and water. Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life.” He is the required nutrient that we need to thrive in this wicked world. John said that in order to have full joy, we must love one another. Worship with our brothers and sisters is important. A sabbath day of rest is also important. But how do we manage to do that with all the responsibilities that pull at us?
Why don’t I rest?
I think that it is hard sometimes to look at our responsibilities as women and figure out where to make hard cuts. I don’t know about you, but there are times when I feel like the entire world needs me. In those seasons it is particularly hard to determine where to make a “cut”. In my brain they all look so very important! And in my pride they look like they would all fall apart without me. But not one of our God-given responsibilities should ever come between us and God. Many of our responsibilities are not “God-given”, but “us-driven”. It requires wisdom from the Lord to know the difference.
I think that one way in which I am the most deceived, though, is thinking that rest isn’t that important and that I don’t really need it. Maybe other people need it, but not me.
But even Jesus rested. Jesus, who is far more important—-an interaction with Him could not only cure the incurable, but save their souls—would disappear from the crowds so that He could find rest. He still had a fleshly body. He was in perfect fellowship with the Father at all times. If HE rested, certainly we need it!
And how did He rest? He rested by resting. . . .in God. See, a sabbath rest is not just about the flesh getting a nap in on Sunday afternoon, although that is important. A sabbath rest is also about our spirits finding rest. In order to be useful in the work of the Lord, we need to recharge the flesh AND the spirit. Those are two different things, requiring two different things.
We find spiritual rest when we fellowship with Him in our spirit. In order to achieve spiritual rest, we must first choose to deliberately set aside our more wordly cares for some time, and in doing so, we finally have a space to meditate on where we are with God . A quiet Saturday evening and God-focused Sunday can help us achieve just that.
Practically implementing rest:
Just as the Israelites were tasked with gathering seven days’ worth of manna in six days’ time, so we must actively prepare for our Sunday worship.
My preparation for worship begins on Saturday night. We have boring, quiet Saturday nights at home. We make sure all of the kids all bathe. Everyone—even Jason and I —-lay out our clothes for the next day. We make sure the children are in bed on time. On Saturday I try to make sure that there is gas in the van.
I also try to get the house reasonably picked up and cleaned before Sunday morning. “Many hands make light work” is a saying I like to use at home, and I try to get as many people involved in this as I can. I am not talking museum-quality housekeeping; rather, making the house in such a state that I can reasonably rest in the environment without getting frustrated by a mess.
A big issue for me personally is meal preparation. I am the main cook at home and so I usually try to prepare something the night before for Sunday. Sometimes I put things together for my crock pot, instant pot, or oven to cook on Sunday before we get home. At other times, I cook a big meal on Saturday night and we just have leftovers the next day. I also make sure I have a sufficient breakfast avail
NOW, with all my people tucked away clean in bed, my house looking nice, and my meal all prepped for Sunday, I can turn my attention to my spiritual rest.
Cultivating Worship:
A spiritual Sunday church service requires members who are prepared to worship the Lord. I really feel like that is one of the main ingredients missing in our services, and it is why we don’t see the power of God in our services. How our churches would come alive if we were prepared to worship!
My spiritual rest begins with prayer.
I am usually the last person to bed on Saturday night. I like having a quiet house to myself. There is something about putting the whole house to bed that helps me focus and relax.
If you aren’t sure what to pray for, here are some things that I try to include:
- Thank God for the week you had—the good, where He helped in the bad, and confess the ugly and ask for His forgiveness. When done well, this usually takes me a little while. There are usually tears.
- Pray for your pastor. My husband is my pastor. No one knows the intimate ways in which her pastor needs prayer like the pastor’s wife. She knows his burdens, his struggles, and those in the church who present challenges. I try to pray for ALL of it.
- Pray for the sermon. There have been times my husband has a message from the Lord for the church a week ahead or more. And there have been times he has asked me to drive to church because in spite of hours of studying, the Lord just hasn’t shown him exactly what he wants yet. There have been times that he knows a message with probably offend someone when all he is trying to do is preach what the Lord gave him. There are sermon topics that God has him preach that are particular weakness of his, or of mine, or in our family. A good pastor is a transparent pastor. And what we need is the message the LORD has for us, in spite of the preacher or who he is or who his family is.
- Pray for each member. The Lord showed me something one time—-He showed me that I was praying for my brothers and sisters by telling God what I thought they needed. “Lord, help brother so-in-so to be nicer”, etc. God showed me that I just needed to ask God to help and bless their lives and thank Him for the good I saw in each member. When I started to pray like THAT, I actually saw a lot of growth in people! Myself included.
- Ask God for a job in the service. “Lord use me tomorrow HOWEVER YOU WANT TO.” He may have you testify or sing. . . or He may have you just listen to that person in church who is difficult for you, and be a caring friend. Either way, you are resetting your attitude to be “He centered” and not “ME centered”.
Part Two will come tomorrow. 🙂
Down to my core. You got me, Sis. Thank you for this!
This is one thing I think we can say, “we’re all in this together”. 🙂
I truly enjoyed your writing. At times i read things and pray how to apply them to my life as i was reading your writing i was like wow this sounds sorta like my life. And kept reading and being reminded of the importance to rest is so so important that i tend to forgot how to rest. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Monica! Isn’t it amazing that He desires our fellowship?
Sister, you always have such good words to share with us. Rest is hard for me. Thank you for the reminder that it is the most important thing because it strengthens my faith and relationship with Him.
It is soooo hard to carve out rest! We think it will come and it won’t, if we aren’t deliberate about it. Hugs!
Thank you for this. As a young mom taking my kids to church, easy like Sunday morning, always made me chuckle a little.
Oh isn’t that the truth? I remember thinking, “Why am I even here??” But it is still good to go, and they learn just in the going and difficulty that it is important.
I am thrilled that you are using your gift of writing to encourage women here on your new blog! 🥰
The idea of “rest” is quite unpopular today in our productivity-awarding culture, but it is essential to our well-being. God knew that! 😊
I love your encouragement to make intentional time to prepare for worship.
I look forward to reading more! 🙂
Yes—everything is so “merit-based”, and I feel like it is infiltrating all aspects of life; family, church, even just creativity. Thank you for your words of encouragement also!
My favorite writer, thank you for your insight and willingness to share your talent as you serve the Lord.
You are so sweet Sister Peggy! Love you!
This was written beautifully. It screamed to me. I am going to read this again. I know I missed something. My tears were flowing and so much information . I am going to pray. Move and get something done. Pray again and read again thanks!
This is good, Sandra! Thank you for the gentle reminder to rest, rest, rest. And, when we are busy, busy, busy, I’m reminded of Jesus sleeping in the boat in the midst of the storm because He was at peace and knew how to rest in His Father’s arms. Praise God for His grace and ability that He gives to us to rest. Amen!