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Key Bible Verse: Work for six days, and rest on the seventh. It will … allow … your household … to be refreshed (Exodus 23:12). Bonus Reading: Isaiah 58:13–14

My grandparents treated Sunday legalistically. You couldn't do this and that. They kept the letter of their law but missed God's loving intent.

My parents, on the other hand, seemed intuitively to understand what a gift the Sabbath was. They worked multiple jobs to keep us fed and clothed. But no matter how grueling the week, we could count on Sunday. Work would be put aside. Concerns over finances would be shelved. There was time for worship and long conversations about God, life, and plain old stuff. Over came the friends. Out came the games. Long afternoon excursions were in order. And sometimes those inevitable, dreaded naps might happen. But I could count on the family being fully present to one another. Somehow in this context I understood that God was for us. That God loved life with us. A God day was a day of joy.

Once one of my daughters' neighborhood friends surprised me by inquiring if she could join our family. As I explored this unexpected request, she explained that she wanted to belong to a family that didn't have to work on Sunday. She knew a good deal when she saw it!

—Jan Wood in Christians at Work

My Response: One way I could make Sunday a day of joy in my home is …

Thought to Apply: Frantic, hectic schedules dull our senses, closing our ears to His still, small voice and making us numb to His touch.
—Source unknown

Adapted from: Christians at Work (Herald, 1999).

Prayer for the Week

Eternal Father, time and eternity are one and the same to You. Help me align them in my life.

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