A Day of Rest: Part Three, The Day

Welcome back to the third installment of my series, “A Day of Rest.” In Part One we talked about why your family may want to consider a day of rest, once a week, every week. (You can can catch up on part one HERE.) In Part Two we talked about preparing ahead of time for a day of rest, so that it actually happens. (You can read that post HERE.)

Today we are going to talk about what a day of rest would look like. We want a day of rest to actually be restful, beneficial, and something joyful that you have to look forward to, not dread, each week. In today’s world we have an addiction to “busyness.” Busyness does not define a successful day, especially one when the goal is rest, so we are going to avoid busyness. Our Rest Day goal is to avoid the association of accomplishment with a completed to-do list. Instead, we’re going to focus on our Day of Rest as though it was a gift, which it is. (Read: Matthew 11:28-30 and Mark 2:27-28 and Hebrews 4.)

When you first start observing a day of rest, one day a week, every week, it’s going to feel like the world is working against you. It is. Be strong, be patient, be persistent. It’s going to be worth it. Your goal for the day is rest, so if including others in your plans is counterproductive to that, don’t.

Today I am going to share a few ideas of how to spend your day of rest. Remember, we are going to avoid work. So if you see something on this list would leave you feeling exhausted, frustrated, or defeated, then that’s not going to be the activity for you. Or maybe, in order to do it, you really need to do some planning and preparation ahead of time. For example: a picnic. A picnic!! Sounds like a fun, relaxing activity, right? Tell that to every mom that’s been responsible for getting their young kids to the beach and making sure they had a blast/got fed/made memories while they were there. That’s not a vacation for most moms; that’s a trip. So what if you are packing a picnic, bringing the Frisbees, hiking 10 miles in, and rounding up the cranky kids to get back home? Alter your plans by packing the picnic the day before, keeping the hike to a minimum, and keeping your expectations lower. If that still doesn’t work, then that is not something you want to add to your Rest Day activities.

Rest Day Activity Ideas

You can download a printable version of Day of Rest Activity Ideas HERE. A pdf file will open in a new tab. You can either print it or save it to your computer.

If you’re looking for more ideas, I have saved a board on Pinterest with even more ideas for how to spend your day of rest. You can follow that board HERE. Side note: many different types of faiths (religions) observe a day or rest, or Sabbath. Jewish, Mormon, and Seventh-Day Adventists are just to name a few. My family does not personally identify with any of those faiths, and observing a day of rest does not mean that you do or do not either. I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on how a day of rest would benefit your family’s mental and physical health, reading scripture that supports a day of rest, and spending time in prayer to see what the Holy Spirit leads you to do. You might see Pins on my Pinterest board that mention some of those religious faiths. Don’t let that be a distraction from getting ideas on how to spend a wonderful, relaxing day with your family.

Next week I will be sharing Part Four, Food Prep and Recipes. I feel like that this topic that falls under Preparation (part two in this series) needs more detail, because it ends up taking up a big portion of our day. When one person, or multiple people, in the family spend a large part of their rest day cooking and cleaning up from meals, then they are not able to fully enjoy the rest aspect of the day. See you next time! In the meantime, if you need to catch up or want to re-read the other installments, you can find the links below:

• Day of Rest: Part One
• Day of Rest: Part Two, Preparation
• Day of Rest: Part Three, The Day
• Day of Rest: Part Four, Food Prep and Recipes