Friday at our house has become a bit of a holiday. After picking up the kids from school there's an excitement in the air. Just like they anticipate gifts on Christmas morning, they're anticipating our plans for Friday evening.
But instead of gifts they would tell you Friday is great because we… well… don’t do much of anything. We stop, turn off our phones, disconnect from the world and just connect with each other.
At dinner, we share our weeks’ highs and lows. Londyn gets to tell us about what happened in her week. She's supposed to share a highlight but her’s is all the light. Calvin usually shares while dressed up in his ninja costume. Emma shares her highlights and then keeps everyone in order.
Before our dinner, we go for a slow family walk. We love going to Friends University's campus. The kids like to ride bikes, take Bruce (our dog) along, and climb the tall stairs of the main building.
The rest of the evening is scattered with cookies and ice cream, communion together, movie-watching, and a little worship time in the living room. We stay up late and just enjoy one another. We love it and look forward to it each week.
John Mark Comer in his book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, makes the point that God designed the Sabbath (or a time for rest) to stop. And to specifically stop from work, stop from worry, and stop from want. These 3 things can bottle us up if we're not intentional.
No worry. No work. No want.
It's not a time when we run errands and clean the house. Those we get done before or after we rest. It's a time when we still ourselves, our hearts, our minds, and our schedules.
At this point, I should tell you why we do this. Some of the reasons might be implied. I mean, would anyone argue against the need for rest? We need it and we feel the need for it. Almost every time I ask someone, "How are you doing?" I can nearly guarantee the answer will be, "Busy."
But the answer for us runs a little deeper. Jesus says that the Sabbath (day of rest) was made for man, not man for the Sabbath (Mark 2:27). Do you know how powerful that is? He's telling us that our Heavenly Father made something for us so that we could be reminded that the weight of the world is not on our shoulders, it's on His. He's saying, "Rest. I made a day so you would be able to stop and just be - you don't need to work, or worry, or want. Because I keep the world turning, not you. So take a deep breath, take a nap, and be still with God.
Here are my personal observations from our Fridays:
The first time we ever attempted this, right as we were headed for bed, we had a ton of
plaster fall off the ceiling in our bedroom. It sounded like our entire roof caved in! We took it as Satan trying to ruin our rest. Didn't work. It was too good for our souls so we've kept up the practice. (And we got our ceiling fixed, Hah).Turning off the phone is hard and freeing. It is kind of a weird feeling. But nothing really makes my kids happier than when my phone is off. If you want to read up on this in particular, check out the book, 12 Ways Your Phone is Changing You… super helpful.
Be consistent! The compounding effect of doing this weekly will produce the greatest fruit in your soul.
Write it down on your schedule - or it probably won't happen. It's easy to let other things come in and steal your time. I tend to prioritize getting things done so it can feel like rest is unproductive. But remember, this is good for your soul - nothing more important!