“Why take a Sabbath?”
“Isn’t that a Jewish thing?”
“What will I have to do for it?”
I’m a little embarrassed to admit these were my initial reactions when my husband, Caleb, first suggested practicing Sabbath as a family. I forgot it’s the fourth commandment! I guess at some point I decided attending church each Sunday checked that box, and I’d never stopped to consider it could be more than that.
But now, after 18 months of an intentional, weekly Sabbath, I’m increasingly convinced of its significance to a cohesive and sustainable Christian life.
Our Sabbath has become one of the most restorative rhythms of our home, not because we practice it perfectly, but because we’ve learned that when we relinquish control, even for a day, God is faithful. Sabbath is an invitation to rest in the good news that God doesn’t call us to constantly produce or accomplish. Instead, he has created us to delight in what is beautiful, good, and true.
Sabbath as a Gift, Not a Burden
Eden is our first picture of Sabbath. Before sin or scarcity, there was abundance and meaningful cultivation—meant to be enjoyed. Neither work nor rest was tarnished by vanity, greed, pain, or failure. From the beginning, God intended to dwell in and enjoy His work, giving us permission to do the same, in union with Him.
As scripture unfolds, Sabbath remains a marker of our need for God and the great gift He provides in inviting us to weave rest and pleasure into our weekly rhythms.
In Deuteronomy, it is after God delivers the Israelites from Egypt that he directs them to keep the Sabbath (Deut. 5:15). Sabbath reminded them they no longer belonged to Pharaoh—the taskmaster who demanded endless production from them. They belonged to a God who would produce for them; they were free to rest and depend on Him. They, of course, struggled to grasp this freedom.
Later, the Pharisees also struggled with the concept of dependence on God. They made Sabbath another thing they needed to get right, rather than permission to release control and rest. Jesus rebukes their legalism in Mark 2:27 telling them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” He restores Sabbath to what it was meant to be: a gift, not a burden. A relationship, not rules.
My own response to my husband’s sabbath invitation mirrors the Israelites and Pharisees: “What will I have to do for Sabbath?”
Our family’s Sabbath is a practiced refusal to believe everything depends on us. We re-learn each Sabbath what the Israelites consistently forgot—we are no longer enslaved to the quantity and quality of what we produce. We re-learn what Jesus confronted the Pharisees about: that “the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath”—we are not.
This is how we experience true Sabbath rest!
What Our Sabbath Looks Like
Practically speaking, we observe our family’s Sabbath on a Friday or Saturday because my husband works on Sundays. I’ve come to experience our day in three distinct ways: releasing, receiving, and recalling.
The first part of our Sabbath is RELEASING.
We begin each Sabbath morning with cinnamon rolls and bacon and grabbing a box (the plastic container from our girls’ Melissa & Doug ice cream set to be specific). Caleb and I place our phones and wallets inside the box for the duration of the day as a tangible act of setting aside distraction, idols, and control and re-centering our dependence on God. We then share what’s occupying our thoughts—unfinished tasks, sickness, fears, and sorrows. We write them down, pray over them, and add them to the box as a reminder that God can handle them for 24 hours.
In this act of releasing our worries and objects of control, we intentionally acknowledge that God is King of the universe; we are not. We are finite and dependent creatures; He is not. We release our weekly pursuit of perfection and instead, turn to Him, expectant for how He will care for us.
The second part is RECEIVING.
We then light a candle and leave it burning all day as a reminder of God’s presence with us. (We love using our oil candles for this!) Then we read a piece of scripture which reminds us of His faithfulness and trustworthiness.
We keep the calendar empty.
We don’t do any chores that feel burdensome. For Caleb, that means no baths for the girls. For me, no laundry.
And we start saying “yes” as often as we can, to our girls and each other, in order to fill the day with as much joy and delight as possible. To recognize and enjoy what is beautiful, good, and true in this world. In doing so, we are drawn more fully out of ourselves and toward the Creator of those good things.
You can imagine how quickly this “yes” practice caught on with our three toddlers (5, 4 and 2). It has trained them to look forward to Sabbath—to align Sabbath with life-giving things! Pretty soon they began building “yes” lists throughout the week.
“Can we get a donut… on Sabbath?”
“Can we go to that new park… on Sabbath?”
“Can we stay in a hotel… on Sabbath??”
(That last one came from our five-year-old. And yes, we did!!)
It has brought us so much joy to model the abundance of God for our girls each Sabbath: encouraging them to ask and receive, to delight and be delighted in, to practice with them the rhythm of setting aside worry and control and trusting God to provide good things. Receiving, together, a taste of what God intended in the garden and will be brought to completion in the new heaven and new earth.
The third part is RECALLING.
We start to bring our Sabbath to a close at the dinner table, recalling our day. What was fun? Where did we see God?
In sharing, we celebrate the ways God quieted mental to-do lists or softened worry lines and replaced them with good gifts: sweet treats, a creative building project, a long hike, an afternoon nap, a catch-up with an old friend, take-out…
We recall that we are His, and we are loved. That it doesn’t matter how we entered or how we’re departing this particular Sabbath—God’s love for us remains unchanged. Nothing can separate us from it.
We align our day’s enjoyment with gratitude, recalling how God provided for us—in big and small ways. We align our “yeses” with recalling the source of ultimate fulfillment, found not by getting everything we want, but in communing with the one who knows us best.
We align our longings for the not yet—a world free of corrupted work and rest, of no more pain, suffering, or grief—with His promise to never abandon us. To, instead, restore us and make all things new.
And we remind ourselves, His promises are not rooted in our perfection, but in His faithfulness. Recalling anew, Sabbath is a gift, not a burden.
Sabbath and the Finished Work of Christ
So, why don’t more of us practice Sabbath?
Is it because, like the Pharisees, we see it as a set of rules? Or is it that our focus on personal autonomy, ability, and achievement blinds us to our need for it?
Ultimately, Sabbath isn’t about a perfectly executed family discipline. For the weary parents reading—this matters deeply. It is actually in our imperfection—in our inability to faithfully commit to anything weekly—that we more acutely experience the freeing work of what Christ did on the cross. (We have failed to prioritize plenty of our weekly Sabbaths over the last year and a half!)
The good news for us is this: it’s not about what we do. Jesus fulfilled the law on our behalf. We no longer strive—and fail—under a burden of rules. Instead, we are free from the endless cycle of unattainable perfection to receive in its place the gift of God’s grace—the gift of his goodness, the gift of his abundant provision. We have been given permission to rest and depend on Him.
So whether or not your family’s week ever includes a formal Sabbath, my invitation to you remains the same:
Release.
Receive.
Recall.
And in doing so, be restored.
If you’d like to grow in discipling your children or teenagers at home, consider working through Rooted’s Family Discipleship Curriculum with your church or small group.
