Oh friends, I am so excited to be sharing all about our experience taking a Sabbath!
Three years ago, I was having coffee with a friend and the Sabbath came up and so we started chatting about it. She had been pondering the idea a little bit, on the fence, listened to different podcasts, had some good books teed up and was trying different smaller ways to start Sabbathing. But it all just felt a little foggy. It was such a good conversation. These were the questions that came up:
- How do you start taking a Sabbath?
- What’s the difference between the Sabbath and a day off?
- Is it restful or is it boring?
- It seems like a lot to fit into the schedule… Does it make the rest of the week more stressful?
- Should we be fine-dining & fun-stacking, like a holiday every week? My toddler would not be up for that.
After our conversation, the BG Sabbath Challenge was born—a challenge I hosted every June, to help busy families with little children start taking a sabbath! It’s life changing!
Because this is the biggest thing:
The Sabbath is not something you learn – it’s something you experience.
It’s more like a mama bird pushing her baby bird out of the nest – you’ll find your wings on the way down!
Implementing the Sabbath every week can feel foreign and hard to take the plunge… But it’s not so bad, when you have a friend holding your hand and walking you through it – baby steps.
That’s why I’m excited to announce … I will be hosting the 3rd annual BG Sabbath Challenge again in just two weeks, and I would LOVE for your family to join me!
Join the BG Sabbath Challenge!
The BG Sabbath Challenge
The BG Sabbath Challenge: 4 weeks of practicing the Sabbath with a community. Join other local moms from Gilbert in an online Facebook group as I walk you through it week by week, slowly dripping out my best practices for making the rhythm of the Sabbath beyond life-giving. Think: Sprinkler, not a firehose of information. Because your life is already full enough, you don’t need TONS of extra work or hard to implement action items — we need this to be simple. We’re talking subtraction, not addition.
You can join the waitlist below to join the challenge when it goes live! The challenge officially starts on June 1st! I’ll also be sharing more about the coming blog series and challenge later in this post (or you can CLICK HERE to learn more).
I’ve been honoring the Sabbath every Sunday for 5 years now… and it has been one of the biggest gifts from God! Our Sabbaths are something we look forward to each week because it is so life-giving!
And since starting to take a Sabbath, I’ve learned SO MUCH! So in today’s blog, I’ll be sharing all about our experience taking a Sabbath! How we initially learned about Sabbath, what led us to take the initial leap and commit to observing it weekly, and what our Sabbaths look like these days.
How it started VS. How it’s going
How it Started | Our Experience Taking a Sabbath
If you’ve been following along around here for a while, you may remember 5 years back, I started sharing all about how I was reading John Mark Comer’s book, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry.
It was a crazy God moment – My mom had come home from meeting with a friend, “She was telling me all about this book and it sounds so good,” my mom said as she pulled open her notes app. Only to find out it was the same book I had listened to Nancy Ray share about on her podcast THAT morning — I had already added it to the Amazon cart! My older brother came home from meeting with his boss, and we asked him how it went. He said it went great he even suggested he read this book ‘The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry’ (!!)
We all looked at each other stunned… God had made it so clear that we needed to read this book. We ordered everyone a copy and started our first ‘Grondin Family Book Club’ and read it right away. We had no idea how life-changing this would be.
It opened my eyes to see just how great the damage of hurry was doing in my life. I had been feeling it – tired, worn out, constantly running – couldn’t put a finger on it. I don’t think I even realized that I was living in a hurried state. But now, I was painfully aware of it: just how fast-paced our culture is, how we live in a constant state of rushed and frantic, and the havoc it was wreaking on my health, my mind, my soul, and my relationships … every area of my life was being negatively affected by hurry.
At the time too, I would have argued that our family was not even as bad as it could have been … we are not addicted to our phones, we went to bed at a decent time, social media was some what under control. We homeschooled and I was doing online college at the time and that was not nearly as stressful as the school situation I was in before. Having dealt with sickness a few years before, I really did have to learn how to simplify so much of my life & it was so life giving…
But even with all of that, we still felt so convicted to do just that: ‘Ruthlessly Eliminate Hurry’ … in particular, start observing the Sabbath.
Our Past View of the Sabbath
If I’m being honest, I counted my blessing that it was an Old Testament command — irrelevant. Err … My thinking couldn’t have been further from the truth. I remember hearing stories of people attending church in the morning and observing the Sabbath religiously. It seemed to me that you could read the Bible or sit and stare. It was a day to pray and focus solely on God. No side conversations – children weren’t to speak unless spoken to and the Sabbath was to be kept beyond holy and reverent. The Sabbath seemed optional … and I was glad we chose not to.
Instead, we viewed the Sabbath as a day for no work. Anything that fell under your ‘job description’ or directly brought in income, was off limits. Almost as a tithe of your time to God…
However, with that view we would still wake up on Sunday, hustle out the door for church, quick lunch, then finish any homework, plan for my week, laundry, grocery shop. Then we would usually end our Sundays with a big family dinner or host people: cooking, tidying up the house. By the time dinner came, we were exhausted. We crashed in our beds. It was a fully productive day – and we didn’t do anything to directly work or bring money in. But it was anything but restful.
Truly we were missing the point… we were being leaglistic with it.
Jesus says ‘The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath” (Mark 2:27) It was meant to be a gift, not a burden. Not a day burdened by ‘rules’ of what you can and cannot do.
But rather to give you rest – a guilt-free, full 24 hours of deep rest for your soul.
The Change | Our Experience Taking a Sabbath
After reading the book, I started studying like crazy, feeling so motivated and convicted at every turn — What does the Bible say about the Sabbath? How did we end up so off track? What does this look like? How are we supposed to do this? … more on this in next week’s blog.
You can see my initial blog after reading the book here: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry My Takeaways
It felt like a big leap of trust. Could I trust God by fully giving up an entire day every single week?
It was about a month of really studying, learning, and processing before we finally pulled the plug and tried it for one week.
I had great hopes for that first Sabbath – it was going to be so beautiful and life giving, resting, and joy filled – and honestly it wasn’t anything sparkly. I felt like I was waiting for the magic to kick in.
It was quiet and simple. I didn’t know what to do with myself… I took a nap and made a cup of coffee … that killed some time.
We started in August, it was too hot to go outside and we decided to not use any screens … I was bored.
My first takeaway was just how many hours in a day there are … 24 hours is a good chunk of time. It is slow. I always thought it was fast – but the truth is we have just jam packed our days with so much to-do. And having absolutely nothing to-do showed me just how much time God has given us in each day. As if my first assignment from the Lord was to watch the minutes tick by … 60 seconds at a time … 60 minutes at a time … hour by hour … for a full day.
I started up on Monday again, feeling like I could move slower … I have so much time each day and I didn’t even realize it.
The bottom line was that even though the first Sunday didn’t feel as magical as everyone made it sound – I felt so strongly convicted that the Lord had *commanded* us to stop and take a Sabbath. I was committed to doing it every week.
Sparkly or not, easy or hard, I was going to trust the Lord with it.
I also did a follow-up blog at the same time, sharing a bit more of our experience taking a Sabbath as we were just starting. You can read that blog here: The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry – What I’ve Been Working On
How it’s going | Our Experience Taking a Sabbath
I’m not even sure where to start? All I can say is: Friends, stick it out. Somewhere along the way the Sabbath becomes sparkly. Let me be a living testament: The Sabbath is one of the greatest gifts God has given us.
The Sabbath was created for us!! All those years, I can just see the Lord saying “Here I have this gift for you, just accept it” and I passed it by because I believed it was a burden … I counted my blessings that I didn’t have to accept it. Friends, the Lord gives good gifts.
Matthew 7:11 – “So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him.”
The Sabbath is a hidden gift; we look forward to it every single week. For so many reason, but to name a few:
- Rest: for our bodies, our minds, our hearts, our soul. It is the deepest form of rest and renewal
- Time with Jesus
- Time to enjoy the things I want to do, but never have time for: reading, quilting, editing a home movie, playing cards, pool days, long walks…
- Quality time with the ones I love most
- Time to play … belly laugh, grow relationships, just enjoy being together
- Learning to control my mind
- Learning you can rest even with an unfinished to-do list
- Grounding me in the reminder that even when my striving has ceased, God is still in control. Ultimately, He can be trusted, I don’t need to do everything in my own strength.
- Believe it or not: I have more restful & more productive days in my week than I did before
And so many more…
Our Typical Sabbath Day
It took some time to experiment with how we liked to spend our Sabbath (and how we don’t). I love hearing about how different families like to spend their Sabbaths – the things they find beyond life-giving are things I might find tiring. And that’s okay. (Again, more on this in another blog to come)
It changes often, season to season, things we are interested in and where our family is at, but here’s the groove we have been enjoying recently…
- Our Sabbath starts sundown on Saturday night. We close up work around sunset (or for me, right after I get home from shooting minis) and we will set a Sabbath table—just table cloth, a cute little center piece that fits the season or gives a nod to our week, and we light a candle.
- We usually are enjoying some baked good, these days it has been scones, fresh baked biscuits, chocolate chip cookies, strawberry shortcake, chocolate pie … the best way to ease into the Sabbath if you ask me! We will all sit and watch a show or a home movie together. And if possible, I love to call it an early night.
- On Sunday, I wake up early, light a candle, open my window, and enjoy a slow prayer time with the Lord. I read a Psalm and just enjoy being still in His presence. That is where the rest really begins for me. It’s the first time I can sit and let my mind become still, like untouched water.
- My mom and I will go for a walk together in the morning.
- And then it’s off to church.
- Come back home, snacks, hang out … everyone parts ways. I usually treat myself to an untimed nap & I look forward to it every week. John Mark Comer calls it a Shabbat shluf! He says “We shulf hard on Sabbath!”
- Everyone seems to slowly meet back up where we come up with a game plan for the rest of the afternoon. These past few Sabbaths, I’ve been enjoying just sitting in the sun for a few minutes and listening to the birds.
- Sometimes I will start a fun project that I’ve been wanting to keep working on… that may be working on putting together my Year-In-Review home movie, or work on a quilt. My mom loves the opportunity to get caught up on her scrapbooks. My sister will sit down with her paints and brushes and work on a beautiful watercolor. Our rule of thumb is: Only things that we really delight in doing, nothing that feels like work!
- Other days, if everyone is around, we’ll opt for a family activity: during the summer months, we love to play board games, Catan is always a fave for us. In the Fall and Spring, we will go for family walks. In the Summer, we will all hop in the pool.
- We will sit and enjoy a nice meal together … Some days it is just the five of us, other days we are hosting.
- The magic hour: For us, I feel like right after dinner, right as the sun is setting, and we are coming up on 24-hours of Sabbathing the magic of the day kicks in … it’s almost as if we have reached peak level of rest and quality time with everyone, and joy burst out. So much laughter, fun, everyone is happy, nothing to worry about. And with the beautiful glowy light, it just feels magical.
- If it’s nice out we may go for a walk. Otherwise, we just enjoy the last few sips of our wine and have an easy evening.
- It’s not long, before we get cozy, make a cup of sleepytime tea, and some fresh baked cookies and we all crash on the couch to wind down watching whatever we are in the mood for… I feel like in this day and age with everyone having their own device to watch whatever they want whenever, we aren’t used to watching shows together – we have loved sitting and watching movies and shows as a family, we laugh so hard… again, so life giving.
Even the next morning on Monday, I wake up still lingering in the Sabbath aftermath… I find my prayer time is so much slower and more peaceful. All feels well in my world, I am just full of praise.
I’m clearly a big advocate for taking a Sabbath, but like I said, the Sabbath is beautiful and so life-giving now, but it didn’t start off that way …
That’s why I am so excited to be hosting the BG Sabbath Challenge again…
The BG Sabbath Challenge
Like I mentioned early, the hardest part of the Sabbath was just starting… so many questions piled up and I felt like we were the only ones sitting at home bored on Sunday…
If this is something you feel convicted to start or even just intrigued by the idea of taking a weekly Sabbath, I would urge you to join. Try it out for 4 weeks – see how it goes and then re-evaluate at the end if this is something you want to continue for another month or stop. However, commit to every week for the next 4 weeks – even if you are out of town or have something on your plate … just take it week by week.
What is the BG Sabbath Challenge?
The BG Sabbath Challenge is 4 weeks of practice on the Sabbath with a community. Join other local Gilbert moms in a Facebook Group as I walk you through it week by week, slowly dripping out my best practices for making the rhythm of the Sabbath beyond life-giving. Think: Sprinkler, not a firehouse of information. Because your life is already full enough, you don’t need TONS of extra work or hard to implement action items — we need this simple. You need rest.
I’ll be your accountability buddy, giving you my best tips for getting started, and checking in on you week by week.
Not to mention, a special moms group full of other moms also jumping into this new rhythm and getting a feel for it. And maybe some seasoned moms who have been honoring the Sabbath for some time now offering encouragement. Ask your questions, share your concerns, your convictions, your heart, what you liked about it, what you did, share a photo of your Sabbath – we want to cheer you on and encourage you in this journey however we can!
The Dates & What We’re Covering:
Here’s the schedule for the next few weeks and what we’ll be covering in the Sabbath Series:
Thursday, May 28th:
- Blog: The Sabbath Study Week — everything you need to know to get started & resources for where you can learn more.
Thursday, June 4th
- Blog: Just Start Stopping – the beginner’s guide to taking a Sabbath, what our Saturdays or ‘Sabbath Prep Days’ look like
Sunday, June 7th: Your First Sabbath
Thursday, June 11th
- Blog: Permission to Play – Ideas for How to Spend Your Sabbath
Sunday, June 14th: Your Second Sabbath
Thursday, June 18th
- Blog: Trusting God with the Sabbath – The twin gods: Accumulation & Accomplishment
Sunday, June 21st: Your Third Sabbath
Thursday, June 25th
- Blog: Resting & Praising the Lord – a day to dwell with God
Sunday, June 28th: Your 4th Sabbath – Final Day of the Challenge
Important Days:
- Blogs will go out on Thursdays at 10:30 am – to give you plenty of time to prepare for Sunday’s Sabbath
- I’ll email you on Fridays letting you know the next blog in the series is live & give you your action step for that week – think small, teeny-tiny, doable baby steps
- Monday, your accountability buddy check in email – I want to hear how it went and will send you an email asking about it!
- The group is always open and available for questions, encouragement, and to share insight & takeaways
Don’t get too hung up on these dates!
If you are looking at those dates and you are out of town or already have commitments on those days or have to work, you can still sign up. First, just be aware of taking a weekly Sabbath & pat yourself on the back. It’s not going to be perfect right out of the gates, there is an adjustment period while you find a groove that works for you.
If you are on a Summer Family Vacation
You can implement some things and enjoy a vacation Sabbath with your family … it’s different but it can be wonderful. Go about your trip as planned – in my book a vacation is just a big extended Sabbath… lots of quality time, lots of play, and lots of rest. Be aware of the ways your family enjoys playing and resting together – can you bring any of that home and into your weekly Sabbaths?
If you have to work on Sundays
Sundays are just the day we’ve chosen to take a Sabbath because it works best for our family. I know plenty of people who opt to take a more traditional Sabbath in the sense that they start on Friday night at sundown and Sabbath all day Saturday. It doesn’t matter the day you take the Sabbath as long as you keep consistent week by week… find a day that works best for you and stick with it.
How to Join:
Join the BG Sabbath Challenge!
Joining is super simple! Use this sign up form below to join the waitlist. As we get closer to the start date (June 1st!) I’ll send you an email with a link to the BG Sabbath Hub Page with next steps and resources on how to get started. You will also be given the link to join the BG Community, introduce yourself and get connected with other local moms going through the same experience.
CLICK HERE to learn more about& join the BG Sabbath Challenge! Or join sign up using the form below:
I hope by just sharing our experience taking a Sabbath, it encourages you a little bit! If you are feeling tired and like you are running on a never-ending treadmill, this is for you! I can’t wait to walk through this with you over the course of this next month!! I know you will find it to be just as life-giving, beautiful, and truly restful for your family as we have!
Excited to cheer you on!
