What Mother's Day taught me about the Sabbath

I've always had a hard time with how the Sabbath is a day of rest, when it feels like anything but sometimes. But then I was doing laundry before tomorrow and this idea came to me.  

So a common stigma with Mother's Day is a day dedicated to appreciating mom and her getting to take a day off. Breakfast in bed (often burnt to a crisp with love and beaming smiles all around) and not having to cook dinner. Also not having to do laundry, or dishes, etc. 

So here I am, folding clothes so I can "be ready" for tomorrow...so I can take a "day of rest". Then I had the song from Primary come to mind. 

"Saturday is a special day, it's the day we get ready for Sunday. We clean the house and we shine our shoes....so we don't have to work until Monday."

The gist is you do everything the day before so you can prepare to rest and be pampered. 

 

Perhaps we're given a day of rest and we should be preparing our minds and hearts to be comforted, fed, and taught. 

I was sitting here tonight, folding clothes, so I could be allowed to "honor" myself. We have a day given to us to honor God, each week. 

Often times I see friend and family thinking of both days, Sunday and Mother's Day, as the worst days of the week and the year. Sunday is a burden instead of a blessing because we think of what we can't do or that we have to dress up and be reverent for 2 hours. Mother's day is painful for those who never got to physically be a mother or for those whose mom passed away, or had a less than ideal mother, or the all time favorite...there is no day of rest. Instead, the opposite! You have to make the food, and take care of everyone, and you don't get flowers, or goodies....I remember one year Mother's day was exactly that.

I was visiting family, my sister and I cooked for everyone, and no one was helping, and I was annoyed and tired from all the cooking and others-pampering. 

That's besides the point. God created everything amazing we see and don't see. He asked for one day of the week so we could honor and remember Him and re-calibrate our relationship with Him. And when we DO honor that day, He blesses us. It's like we honor Mother's Day and Mom takes US out for ice cream and we grow closer together. 

So tomorrow...Think of honoring both Mom, and God.