Keeping the Sabbath

It's funny the places wisdom comes from or the ways God finds to speak to us. Sometime, somewhere this week (I don't remember where) I was in a ladies room and, on the inside of the door of the stall, was taped a piece of paper with the Ten Commandments on it. I read them over for a review (odds are I'll end up being quizzed on this in the near future and here's my chance to study!). I guess I should already know them but it turns out I don't. I had forgotten about the one that says "Thou shalt remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy", forgotten that it was one of the Ten Commandments.

Mark is always telling me to take Sunday off. He pointed out once that I don't set an end to my workday and I don't do anything to differentiate the weekend from the rest of the week. In fact, I rarely sit down. There is always more to do than I can possibly get to. I calculated not long ago that, if I quit sleeping at night and worked around the clock, I might be able to catch up in a year or so. Or I'll just come up with more projects!

To me, Sunday is a day to get more done. But I've noticed that I often sort of collapse on Sunday and lay around in bed watching Monster Quest on the History Channel and writing on the computer. (That's exactly what I'm doing right now!) I guess God has his way of imposing the Sabbath on my even when I don't honor it myself! Clearly there is great wisdom in the concept!

Earlier I was lying here wondering what to write about for today's blog post and the phrase "keep the Sabbath" kept coming to me. So I'm listening.

From where I lounge I can see a glorious bouquet of three dozen roses in a silver pitcher. Mark made sure I had a dozen roses from each child. They are white (my favorite!) and two different shades of pink (ok, so those are my favorites too!) and they are just bursting into full bloom. They are breathtaking -- almost too gorgeous to believe. And there was a delicious and decadent lunch at the Olive Garden after church and now one of my favorite things: a day with nothing scheduled!



Yesterday I indulged in my annual Mother's Day weekend tradition: The Annual Washington Elementary School Fundraiser Home Tour. This is all I want for Mother's Day every year. It's that simple and I love the simplicity of it. I got to tromp through seven houses and peer into other people's worlds. It is truly a blessing to get to view the houses of people you don't even know. It is mind-expanding and inspiring.

My favorite house is one I saw in it's unrenovated state several years ago. I've always grieved that I lacked the fund to renovate it myself. It was with trepidation that I crossed the threshold, but inside was a treasure trove of the unique, interesting, and amazing. In addition to beautiful finishes and furnishings and had a sense of humor and a taste for the bizarre. The living room walls were covered with a varied collection of vintage oil paintings of dogs. On the laundry room wall was a large pair of shark's jaws with a vintage bikini hanging from the teeth. In the wall in front of the treadmill was a gold frame with a Snickers bar in it. One the back porch was a vintage mint green dentist's chair.


But the best part of all was an array of vintage, back-of-the-zoology lab, taxidermified creatures worthy of their own museum exhibit. There was a framed bat, a ferret/mink/weasel-type of thing, and, I kid you not, a two-headed calf! But the best part was the flying monkey (I don't get to write sentences like that very often!). On a table by the window in the living room was a a real, once-alive monkey (poor thing!) mounted, poised for take-off, and embellished with a pair of real hawk wings! I know it sounds gross and I wouldn't want is residing on my night stand but it was truly a marvel and I wish I'd thought of it (though I probably wouldn't have the heart to buy a preserved monkey)!

Anyway, the home tour has me taking a new view of my house. It is my secret desire (not so secret now!) to have my house on the home tour (and, of course, to have it be everyone's favorite!). But I have a long way to go. Every year I think maybe by next year... but somehow it never happens. Luckily, hope springs eternal!

I feel like I should write a tribute to Mother's Day but I have decided that I have no editorial comments on Mother's Day. I wouldn't be able to contain the wild swarm of thoughts and emotions enough to put them into words that made any sense. And I'd probably offend someone anyway. Mother's Day is loaded. My own mother died almost 20 years ago. She hated mother's day. And then there's my birthmother. And my stepmother. And all the people who have mothered me. I am grateful for and to them all but I still have no perpective on Mother's Day other than a jumble of complicated and conflicting thoughts and feelings. So, my second Mother's Day gift to myself is that I get to ignore it and NOT write about it!

Happy Mother's Day! I sincerely hope that it's a simpler, more benign thing for you than it is for me!

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