keep thyself unspotted from the world

I love Sunday--always have. To have a day each week set aside for rest and worship of my Father in Heaven, is a blessing worth talking about.

A few years ago, I had an interesting conversation with a woman in this town, who was not of my faith. She was raised a foster child in an LDS household and still considered her foster parents as her parents. But she had made a few lifestyle choices, which made her uncomfortable attending church. How sad! As we spoke, she commented that she didn't get much out of church and preferred to spend that time with her son.

Wow! I do go to church to be uplifted, but that is not the reason for Sabbath service. Attendance at church gives us an opportunity to pay respect to God and follow His commandment to partake of the Sacrament. "That thou mayest more fully , thou shalt go to the house of prayer and offer up thy sacraments upon my holy day; for verily this is a day appointed unto you to rest from your labors, and to pay thy devotions unto the Most High" (D&C 59:9–10).

I also like the rest from your labors part of the Sabbath! Some say they need that day to catch up with their work. You can't get me to do laundry or what have you on Sunday.

"Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the Lord blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it" (Exodus 20:8–11).

But we shouldn't lay around too much either. Sunday is a time for praying, meditating, napping a bit, studying the scriptures and the teachings of latter-day prophets, writing letters to family members and friends (my task today), writing journal entries, researching gamily history, fellowshipping, reading wholesome material (my personal favorite), visiting the sick and distressed, and attending other Church meetings (love this one too).

When we still had small children, Sunday's were more of a challenge. But we learned to prepare ahead of time to make it a special day. Mostly, we tried to keep it as a unique event, separated from worldly influence. Of course we slipped up from time to time but always tried to get back on track. I heard this talk when we had a pack of little people to herd. I read over again as needed to keep me going the right direction.