# 4

No, I'm not announcing that we are expecting our fourth child (don't lie, I know you were thinking that!)  I'm referring to the fourth commandment, as in Charlton Heston with the stone tablets commandments.  Do you remember which one that is?  Murder?  Nope.  Stealing?  Nope.  It's the one about the Sabbath.

"Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God.  On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner (alien) who is within your gates.  For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day.  Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."  Exodus 20:8-11

Wow!  Did you remember it was that long?  I didn't.  In fact, that commandment gets more words dedicated to it that any of the other commandments do.  I'm not at all saying the fourth commandment is more important than any of the others, but if God dedicated that much space to it, then He must want me to take notice.

Unfortunately, I never really have.  Don't get me wrong, I pitch a fit if I have to miss my Sunday afternoon nap for any reason, but I don't think naps are exactly what God had in mind.  For whatever reason, I started thinking about my response to this commandment.  I decided I wanted to change what my response was to  Sunday.  (Which is a whole other discussion; so if you don't know why Christians celebrate the Sabbath on Sunday, I think this link gives a pretty accurate description:  http://christianity.about.com/od/whatdoesthebiblesay/f/sundayworship.htm)

About a month ago, I actively started trying to make changes.  After about week two, I shared this with my friend Jennie.  She asked "What does that exactly mean?"  Since I was still fleshing out the logistics of it, I didn't give a very good answer, but it made me think harder about what & why I was doing this.  For me, I decided observing the Sabbath meant that I would take a break from the things that I do most.  What I needed to "rest" from.  I have added a thing or to each week, but this is my list so far:
1.  No laundry.
2.  No dishes.
3.  No e-mail.
4.  No craigslist or e-bay.
5.  No checking to see what Kate Middleton wore or what crazy celebrity baby name came out this week.
6.  No Facebook.

Those last three are the hardest!  I have decided that I'm not going to be legalistic about this, though.  I got on FB today to wish a "Happy Anniversary" to 2 dear friends (and to post this blog!), but I did struggle to resist clicking on my messages or scrolling through the newsfeed.  (Ahh, unchecked messages!)  On the other hand, I have thoroughly enjoyed divorcing the dishes & leaving the laundry for a day.  I have to bust my tail until late on Saturday night to get all my chores done, but isn't God worth it.  I mean, I always do that when dinner guests come over, so why can't I do that for my God?

Now be warned, that if you, too, decide to try to make a change to your Sabbath, that doesn't mean that the world is going to rest, too.  The baby will still throw up, the car will still get a flat tire, the neighbor's dog will still poop by your front door, or whatever else Satan can think to throw at you.  But I'm determined to not give up that easily!  I want to learn to "guard" my Lord's day and somehow figure out how to "keep it holy".  Philippians 4:13!!

Probably NOTHING at all what Moses looked like, but, eh,  you get the picture.