Simple Sundays

Do you remember Sundays as a child?  For me, they were simple and slow, especially at my Grandpa Coons' house.

Sundays were meant for church and rest.  And that's just what we did.  The most exciting thing was discovering whether or not Grandpa was taking us out to eat for lunch after church.  (Oh, how I miss those plate lunches at the Cadillac and the Kings Table buffet!)

As a child, I didn't appreciate rest.  In fact, many Sundays I probably complained, at least internally, from the lack of anything to do.  We'd come home from lunch and just sit around, maybe nap.  If it was during the school year, the afternoon meant a long drive home.  If during the summer, it meant hanging until evening service.

Now that I'm grown, I love nothing more than a peaceful Sunday.  Over time, I've learned to protect this day and try very hard to schedule nothing on a Sunday afternoon and even more so in the evening.

Quite time with God on Sunday morning, just me, my Bible, and a steamy cup of coffee before my family and the world wake up, is one of the highlights of my week.  For the rest of the day, a perfect Sunday includes Church, lunch, a glorious nap, more Bible study and longer journaling, and a simple evening with the family.  I find my moments with God, on this seemingly unscheduled day, are all the better because of my unrushed pace.  There are no other commitments, no expectations of my time. I long for this peace.  And I think my appreciation and gratitude of this simplicity has only recently occurred to me, or at least my realization has been heightened.

Sure, there are a laundry list of things I could be doing (laundry one those unpleasantries), but I figure I have all week to accomplish them.  I remind myself that even God himself took a break. 
               "and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done" Genesis 2:2
And as my sister, Angela Thomas, would say from the Brave study I'm reading, "I'm taking a Sabbath!"

Now, if I could just get the kids to appreciate this precious break....but it will probably take them as many years to do so as it did me!