Sunday - A Day of Rest?

For those of you who know me well, you know that I am a Latter-Day-Saint. I am a Mormon - you know, Mitt Romney, Steve Young, Orrin Hatch, just to name a few. (Hopefully, there's no one out there saying to themselves, "Wow, I never would have guessed HE was Mormon.") Anyway, we believe that the Sabbath Day is on Sunday and that it is sacred and a day of rest. So, I have decided that if I am going to try and blog at least a little something everyday, on Sundays, I will try to talk a little about religion and my faith. Hopefully, for those of you who might not be LDS, reading these Sunday blogs will take a little bit of the mystery out of what sometimes seems to be a mysterious religion.

One of the major tenets of our faith is remembering the Sabbath Day to keep it holy. This generally means that we try to take it easy on Sundays - we attend our church meetings and work with the other members in our areas, we try to provide service to others, we worship, we try to stay away from commercial activities and spend time with our families. The Sabbath Day is SUPPOSED to be a day of rest. I guess my question is - When do I actually get to start RESTING on Sundays?

This morning, I woke up at 6:15, showered, shaved and made it to the Church building right around 6:45 for a 7AM bishopric meeting. I met for 45 minutes with the Bishop and the rest of the Bishopric. Then, at 7:45, we met for another 45 minutes with other leaders in our ward talking about various members who are in need and what we can do for them. Then, with a couple other men, I set up around 150 chairs for a Sunday School class later in the day. We made it back to the chapel just in time for 9AM Sacrament Meeting only to realize that the A/C wasn't working and it was about 90 degrees in the chapel. We met for an hour, then I went to Sunday School for an hour, then to a meeting with the young women's group in our ward. After the regular block of meetings was over at noon, I attended a special ordination of a young man that lasted another 30 minutes, only to be followed by more Bishopric duties and preparing for the week's activities and service projects. I got home around 1:30, helped feed my kids, and prepared for a monthly youth meeting that night at the Bishop's home, which was eventually cancelled.

After catching a quick power nap, we left to go out to Mesa to have dinner with my Mom and sisters. Although I love going to my Mom's house for dinner, because I love seeing my Mom and sisters and eating good food (and man, did we eat some good food tonight), there really is nothing restful about 14 grandkids under the age of 10 running around and playing/fighting/loving each other. The highlight (or lowlight) was when Julia, my 5 year old, somehow cut her lip and bled all over the place and she honestly thought she was going to die. I don't know how my Mom does it - she is the picture of composure and patience. But generally speaking, NOBODY was getting any rest.

Bottom line, it's 10:50 at night and after fighting to get our kids' teeth brushed, and saying prayers and telling stories about my childhood and finally wrestling our kids to bed (and there is NO WAY they are actually asleep right now), I really don't feel like I got much rest today. In fact, I think if you ask pretty much any member of the LDS Church if Sundays feel like a day of rest, most of them will tell you emphatically, NO! they do not.

However, I love the Sabbath Day. Sunday is absolutely the best day of the week. The Sabbath Day is not necessarily ever a day of rest, it is more like a day of stress. But for me, I wouldn't have it any other way.