Making the Sabbath a Delight
By Steve and Claudia Goodman

Several years ago as we were visiting in Israel, our guide explained that the Jewish Sabbath was the most special day of the week—not a burden, but a joy.  It was the day when the family used their best china and tablecloth and rejoiced together in the delights of the Sabbath. 

To me, it was a new way of looking at things.  From my youth I had been well acquainted with the Don’ts of the Sabbath—don’t go shopping, don’t go to the movies, don’t go to birthday parties, don’t go swimming, etc.  So often those rules can be misinterpreted as don’t have fun!  Although I had always tried to keep the Sabbath Day holy, I had not fully thought of it as a day to delight in the Lord.  In D&C 59:13 the Lord explains that in keeping the Sabbath day, “thy joy may be full.”   

President Spencer W. Kimball gave one of the best descriptions of Sabbath observance available.  He said: “The Sabbath is a holy day in which to do worthy and holy things.  Abstinence from work and recreation is important, but insufficient.  The Sabbath calls for constructive thoughts and acts, and if one merely lounges about doing nothing on the Sabbath, he is breaking it.  To observe it, one will be on his knees in prayer, preparing lessons, studying the gospel, meditating, visiting the ill and distressed, writing letters to missionaries, taking a nap, reading wholesome material, and attending all the meetings of that day at which he is expected.”  (“The Sabbath—A Delight,” Ensign, Jan. 1978, p.4.) These are suggestions listed by a prophet of God of activities worthy of the Sabbath. 

The purpose of this article is to create a springboard of ideas to help each of us use the Sabbath to more fully delight in the Lord.  The most important thing to keep in mind is that these are only suggestions to get you started thinking, not requirements set in stone.  Also, remember that it is impossible to use all of them on any given Sunday.  It would hardly be a day of rest as you raced from one suggestion to the next!  The important thing is to keep the spirit of the Sabbath—to do those things that will help you and your family to delight in the Lord.  

Set the Mood

Perhaps we can begin by establishing an atmosphere of joy and peace in our homes on the Sabbath day.  One way to achieve this goal is to do advance preparation on Saturday.  Bathing the children the night before and setting out their Sunday clothes works for some families; however, reality doesn’t always make this practice possible.  Preparing Sunday meals ahead is also a possibility.

Many years ago when we had six children under the age of eight, I was asked to give a talk in sacrament meeting on keeping the Sabbath Day holy.  I did lots of research and analyzing and determined that we needed to do a better job ourselves.  My husband was out of town that weekend, but I gathered the children together on Saturday morning and scheduled times for us to clean the house, take baths, set out clothes, and prepare meals for Sunday.  However, the needs of many small children and a neighbor in distress took most of the day, and by bedtime that night, we had not accomplished a single one of our objectives.  Too many other important things got in the way.  Sadly my oldest boy commented, “Mom, we didn’t get everything done for Sunday.”  Then a warm spirit burned within me as I replied, “Yes, but we did the most important things, and the Lord is pleased.”  I gave a different talk the next day than I had planned.  Being super-organized is not always the answer to keeping the Sabbath.  Giving love, taking time for others, and delighting in the Lord are a lot more important than an impressive schedule of events.

A few other things that help set the mood for the Sabbath are:

• Inspirational music playing quietly in the background does a lot to establish a spiritual tone in the home. 
• Simply prepared meals with the entire family spending time together also promote feelings of love and harmony and invite the spirit. 
• Often it helps to make Sunday a family day, when the children rarely play with other friends, but spend the day with each other. 
• Wearing Sunday clothes or clothes which are nicer than those worn on other days can also set the Sabbath apart as an extra special day.

For the Whole Family

There are many things families can do together on the Sabbath Day.  Children and parents of all ages can enjoy a great variety of activities.  Some of these ideas include:

• Attend regular church meetings.  They set the tone for the day.
• Visit widows in your ward.  Sing to them or listen to their stories.
• Visit rest homes in your area.  Teach your children to love and care for the elderly.
• Read family histories to acquaint your children with their ancestors and their testimonies.
• Help your children prepare the Family Home Evening lesson.  Some families like to present this lesson on Sunday and reserve Monday night for the activity.
• Interview your children on a regular basis.  Many families do this once each month.  If this pattern doesn’t work for you, make a conscious effort to spend time talking with each child individually, which accomplishes the same objective.
• Visit extended family.  Sunday is a great time to spend time with relatives and loved ones and to strengthen family ties.
• Write letters to extended family, loved ones, and missionaries.  It’s a great way to share your testimony and love with others.
• Sing hymns or other appropriate faith-strengthening songs with your family.  They create a bond of closeness and always enhance the spirit.
• Go for a walk on the temple grounds or other sacred spots near your home.  Such time can be used for meditation and rejoicing in the beautiful creations around you.
• Go to a visitor’s center if one is nearby and feel its spirit renew your testimony.
• Take a nap.  Many people regard this suggestion as one of their favorites from Pres. Kimball’s list.  Sunday can literally be a day of rest—as long as you don’t get too carried away with it!

For Older Children and Adults

For those old enough to do so, the Sabbath can truly be a time of renewal of both body and spirit, a time to reflect and recommit and truly feast on the words of eternal life.

When I was in high school, I decided that homework was my work, and that it was therefore inappropriate for me to do it on Sunday.  It was a real sacrifice sometimes and meant getting up extra early on Monday mornings occasionally to finish what I failed to complete on Saturday.  But I found myself looking forward to Sundays more and more as a day to truly rejoice and rest from the labors of my week.  I also found that I was blessed in my schoolwork beyond measure by keeping this commandment of the Lord fully in my life. 

Our children have continued this practice.  Our sixteen-year-old daughter Aimee says, “Not doing homework on Sunday was something I grew up with.  Now that I’m in high school and taking some advanced classes, the homework load is heavy.  Sometimes I get frustrated that I have to get up in the early hours of Monday morning so I can skip doing homework on Sunday.  So far I’ve always been able to finish my homework in time and feel good about myself.  Sometimes when I haven’t finished, the assignment will get cancelled for that day.  The Lord truly blesses me when I don’t do homework on Sunday.  I always seem to have enough time to finish it and do better than if I had used Sunday to study it.”

Some of the activities that older children and adults can enjoy on the Sabbath are:

• Study the scriptures.  Sometimes there is so much time pressure during the week.  Sunday can become a day to truly immerse yourself in them.
• Meditate.  Taking time to meditate and pray can be a life-changing experience.
• Evaluate goals.  Coupled with meditation, prayer and the renewing of sacramental covenants, evaluation of goals can give meaningful direction to the coming week.
• Catch up your journal.  Sometimes Sunday can be an ideal time to capture journal entries that escape our time during the week.
• Do some genealogy.  It deepens your relationships with your ancestors, and there is always more to do.
• Write your personal history.  Sundays are a great time to get started, when the cares of the world do not seem so pressing.
• Attend firesides and other inspirational church meetings when they are available.
• Read church magazines and books.  It’s a great time to expand your understanding of the gospel.
• Write inspirational poetry or music, expressing your feelings of the gospel.
• Young Men, Young Women, and Scouts can work on Personal Progress, Duty to God, and appropriate scouting goals.  One family we know sets aside a specific hour every Sunday for such activities.  It keeps young people working toward their goals.

For Small Children

Perhaps the greatest challenge in keeping the Sabbath Day holy is finding enough Sunday activities to fill up a whole day after church for young children who can’t sit still for more than two minutes at a time.  We feel that Rule #1 is to do the best you can and then don’t put yourself on a guilt trip!  There is only so much you can do to provide a constant spiritual environment for young children.  We are reminded of a comment our daughter made when her first child was a few months old.  She explained, “Scripture study consists of my husband and I reading a few verses of scripture while the baby tears up a sheet of paper.”  Sometimes that’s about as far as you get, and it’s okay!    

The following are some ideas that have worked for us.  However, we must stress that we didn’t use all of them consistently.  It’s a little bit hit-and-miss working with young children.  We feel it is much more important to keep the spirit in your home and interact with your children with love, than to complete a long list of spiritual achievements.  Over time, with continued efforts to provide spiritual direction, the children will start doing many of these things on their own.

• One of the best discoveries we made was allowing a half-hour or forty-five minutes extra time to get into the car and go to church when we had small children.  Unbelievably, it always took that much longer!  If we just started that far ahead, there was no stress and we arrived at church on time and in good spirits. 
• Take time to let your children practice sitting still.  There are many games you can play, such as the last one to move gets a small treat, timing them, and seeing how long they can sit or stand on a piece of paper, etc.
• Help your children draw pictures for their journals and write whatever they would like to say.  This way, at least their journals are getting written in occasionally.  You can even establish a Journal Hour for this activity.
• Look through picture scrapbooks.  Children love to see past pictures of themselves and those they love.  Our children looked at ours so often that the covers have fallen off the books.
• Tell family stories.  Children love to hear stories about when you and other relatives were young.  It makes them feel more connected to their family.
• Le the children watch Sunday videos or DVDs.  These can include movies produced by the Church or other movies you feel bring the children closer to the spirit of the Lord.  They can be purchased quite inexpensively from the Church Distribution Center.
• Start a collection of Sunday books and magazines, including the Friend.  This practice will help children begin distinguishing which books are suitable for Sunday reading.
• Provide church games for children to play.  There are many commercial ones readily available, or your can make your own.
• Encourage your children to create their own dramas, using scripture stories.  One of our fond memories was the Sunday our children produced the story of Esther from the Bible.  We were amazed at how many details they included, and they have never forgotten the story.  The costumes and props were highly creative, and they had a wonderful time doing it.  This activity kept them involved the entire afternoon.
• Flannel board stories are another fun activity for children and give them a hands-on experience in learning gospel stories.
• Church or scriptural coloring books are also readily available and give children a good creative outlet focusing on the gospel.
• Make your own book of gospel pictures, either using the Church picture kit or other sources.  You can insert the pictures in protective plastic sheets and put them in a binder so children can look at them by themselves.
• The Church Nursery Manual has wonderful ideas for helping children learn the gospel on a simple level.  Becoming familiar with it provides countless ways for you to reinforce what your children are learning.
• Make a Sunday kit, containing many of the items suggested here and others you might want to include.  Then all your Sunday materials will be in one place for the children to use each week. 
• Use your own creativity or that of your children to make adaptations of familiar activities.  One Sunday our older son burst into the room saying, “Mom, the younger kids are playing ‘Snake in the Grass,’ and it’s not a Sunday game.”  When I questioned them, they replied, “No, we’re not.  We’re playing ‘Missionary in the City!’”  Sometimes it’s the idea that counts more than the content at this age.  At least they’re getting the idea, even if they are still playing quite a rousing game.
• Finally, remember that the example of older children and parents will have a large impact on younger children.  If they see you searching your scriptures and doing Sabbath activities even occasionally, they will tend to follow the patterns you set for them.

Discovering the Delights of the Sabbath

Keeping the Sabbath Day holy is like following any other principle of the gospel.  We perfect it in degrees.  The most important thing is the direction we are headed.  If we focus on the Lord and try to serve Him, He will judge us on the intent of our hearts, not just on the success of our Sunday activities.  As we strive to honor Him on His holy day, we will not only feel renewed ourselves, but we will also instill in our children a deep and abiding love for the Lord