When Jill and I were raising our children we taught them that Sunday was the Sabbath Day, a day when our family refrains from recreation and focuses our attention on God.
Well, that was the theory. In practice it must have seemed to the children to be a list of shalt nots stretching into the eternities.
For example, on a Sunday there was no shopping, no television, no video games, and no newspaper (parents were included). When we went on vacation, it was usually from early Monday to late Saturday.
Around twenty-five years ago a pamphlet published by the Church was distributed to families. Today I don’t recall anything about the pamphlet except that it had a list of could dos on one of its pages. I cut out the list, pinned it to the bulletin board, and implemented many of the suggestions.
No doubt my children appreciated the Church’s diligence.
- Read the scriptures, conference reports, and Church publications.
- Study the lives and teachings of the prophets.
- Prepare Church lessons and other Church assignments.
- Write in journals.
- Pray and meditate.
- Write to or visit relatives and friends.
- Write to missionaries.
- Enjoy uplifting music.
- Have family gospel instruction.
- Hold family council meetings.
- Build husband-wife relationships.
- Read with a child.
- Do genealogical research, including the four generation program and family or personal histories.
- Sing Church hymns.
- Read uplifting literature.
- Develop appreciation for the cultural arts.
- Plan family home evening study and activities.
- Plan other family activities.
- Friendship nonmembers.
- Fellowship neighbors.
- Visit the sick, the aged, and the lonely.
- Hold interviews with family members.
The list is still there on the bulletin board. I may add number 23: “Blog about the Gospel.”
Hat tip Chariots of Fire
I’ve always been impressed with how your family treats the Sabbath. Implementing the guidelines when they were young has helped them maintain their standards into adulthood, and now they’re training their children to do the same.
I remember that we also didn’t play with friends on the Sabbath.
At times it was hard to understand why we weren’t able to do things, but after awhile Sundays also came to mean a lot to me. I now understand why it is important to keep the Sabbath day holy.
When the Internet became popular it became increasingly difficult, at least for me, to keep the Sabbath day holy.
I was reading where you called Sunday the Sabbath day, I’m sorry but God called the 7th day a day of Rest and He called it a Sabbath. …No where in the bible does it ever say that the 1st day is his Holy day. Jesus and His disciples ALL worship God on the Sabbath, – when the Romans converted to Christianity did the Sabbath day changed to Sunday, and it was by Man’s Authority, Not God’s. ….all are deceived.
I also found ;no cooking (which the Jews observe to such an exagerrated extent,I cant’t live that way.)
I’m sorry, but I never observed the sabbath.