Worshiping More Fully and Making the Sabbath Day a Delight

The day after I was asked to speak, the stake president and his counselor were in the Granbury ward. As I returned to our pew, I found my youngest son nose deep in a coffee table sized book, with coffee table size pictures, entitled, "Top Winners in Golf." Tiger Woods' face was visible to all in the chapel who were looking our way. My son and I then became engaged in a tug-of-war over the book. And don't ask how I didn't notice the coffee table sized book going out the door.

In fact, while I was pondering my talk on the Sabbath Day, last Sunday, my two youngest boys were using clipboards and a ping pong ball in my living room for their across the room and off the walls ping pong game. And then I remembered that last Sunday it was a chipping and putting golf contest into my mixing bowls. So know this. I am not here because I or my family are perfect. But this is why we meet together on Sunday - to confess our sins, to grow, and to learn from and to love each other, despite our faults. And while I'm confessing sins, we were pulled over on the way to church today. And I wasn't driving.

Having an acre lot requires a lot of lawn mowing. And we moved here with a push mower. It usually takes me three days to finish the entire acre. People often ask why, having six sons, they aren't the ones mowing the grass. It's a strategy I use to work out some of life's problems. I don't look forward to the physical work of pushing the lawn mower up and down the hill, picking thorns out of my socks and shoes, or jumping over piles of fire ants. But every so often I need time away from life with seven children. And a loud mower, outside the home, far enough away from the back door, works wonders.

I've learned a few lawn mowing strategies over the years. Like using a clamp to open the lawn mower flap, allowing thick or wet grass to exit quicker before clumping underneath stops the motor. Recently, as it has been a very wet summer by Texas standards, I've learned that pulling the mower backwards, when the clamp isn't enough, will prevent the mower engine from dying in the long, thick, wet grass.

Our Heavenly Father has given us a few strategies to help us navigate our way through the unexpected, long, wet grass of life, some of the more well-known ones being the Ten Commandments. Surely if we don't kill, or lie, or steal, or commit adultery, our path through mortality will be one less troublesome. Have you pondered on what strategies might have been used to assist the Israelites in getting out of the wilderness?

When Moses was leading the children of Israel, if they had simply turned left, they were within 15 miles of Jerusalem. Instead, the prophet of God led them to the right, and they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. The key to understanding why they were led to wander is found in Deuteronomy 8:2:  “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.”

We may grumble about all the things we feel like or know we should refrain from doing on the Sabbath Day. But deciding to keep the Sabbath day holy is the difference between turning left, or wandering to the right, and a strategy that will help us navigate our way through life.

I work for a law enforcement agency in Dallas County, and nights like last night, are the busiest hours of the week. The early morning hours of Sunday, midnight to four, when the least amount of people are awake, are when the most incident numbers per hour are generated. That Satan is the busiest on what we consider a holy day, the Lord’s day, is a telling factor in what Satan considers one of his best strategies.

Elder Groberg said, “As we keep the Sabbath day holy he will bless us, and we will achieve a quiet power for good that we cannot obtain in any other way. There is power in keeping the Sabbath day holy—power to help others as well as ourselves. If we would have God’s blessings and protection as individuals, as families, as communities, and as nations, we must keep His Sabbath day holy.” And In light of Hurricane Harvey, now Irma, and an earthquake in Mexico, when you wonder how you can help, the Sabbath Day becomes a vital link to recovery.

Often, when we talk about the Sabbath Day, we'll say, "Keep the Sabbath Day Holy." That is not the commandment. Keeping the Sabbath day holy implies refraining from certain activities. In Exodus 20:8, it says, "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy." Remembering the Sabbath day means it is foremost in our minds.

Isaiah described the Sabbath as “a delight.” He also taught us how to make it delightful. He said, “…turn away from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight.”

I was asked to speak on worshiping more fully to make the Sabbath day a delight. What does it mean to worship more fully?

Worshipping more fully means to me doing all the things you should be doing so the Spirit can be in your life. It’s a lifestyle choice.

And why would worshipping more fully, “that we may always have His Spirit to be with us”, make the Sabbath day a delight?

Delight to me means a little bit of joy, and a little bit of wonder. Delight was listening to President Hinckley speak in General Conference. Delight is spring in Texas when the ground is covered with bluebonnets. Delight is when my husband brings me home flowers. And delight is when your six sons find out #7 is a sister.

Worshipping more fully to make the Sabbath day a delight then means always remembering to do those things to have the Spirit in our lives to make the Sabbath a day of joy and wonder. One of my strategies, is to teach my children about sacrifice.

Remembering the Sabbath day will teach us and our family to make small sacrifices for the Lord. Having six sons meant they sacrificed a lot of baseball tournaments, high school practices, and all star teams. They’ve given up birthday party invitations from their classmates, playing with neighborhood friends, and knowing who wins the Super Bowl until Monday morning.

Remember the Sabbath Day, and find delight in sacrifice.

We can remember the Sabbath day by making small sacrifices in serving others. President Henry B. Eyring said, “The Sabbath is also a perfect time to remember the covenant we made at the waters of baptism to love and serve Heavenly Father’s children.”

Concentrate on not what can’t be done on Sunday but instead, what do we want to do to remember the Sabbath?

Teach your children or spouse or friend or self to index. A former stake president of ours tied all youth activities to indexing. Watching my sons index names, every Sunday, softened their hearts to the plight of so many still waiting for temple ordinances. It was a delight to see their complaints become few and far in between while they were serving  in love for others.

Use your time to work on family history with the express purpose of sharing with them eternal ordinances in the temple. You’ll find delight, as did I, after looking for five years, by changing the spelling from Hill to Hall, when the spirit helps you to find your ancestors on a census,.

Elder Russell M. Nelson said, “Make the Sabbath a delight by rendering service to others, especially those who are not feeling well or those who are lonely or in need. Lifting their spirits will lift yours as well.”  Home and visiting teaching, or being concerned for those not at church, becomes especially meaningful in this light.

Use your time to Write a missionary. Develop your talents. I  was delighted to learn that one of my sons serving in Brazil was the only piano player in his ward; another son, the only one in his ward and stake. Record sacred, funny, important life moments in a journal. For example:

Mr. Wilson was a not a member of our church, but his wife is, and she asked for a boy to help her with her lawn, as her husband is on oxygen for a lung disease. As I had to drive my son to his house, I chose not to sit in the car and wait, but help so we could be done quicker. The Wilsons have a large, beautiful yard. The plan was for my son to begin weed whipping, which I do not do, and I would start with mowing. Within two minutes of mowing I ran over Mr. Wilson’s 100 foot extension cord to the weed whipper my son was operating. It was painted green, and blended in with the long green grass. After a drive to replace my son’s source of power, I resumed mowing. Within a few minutes, after mowing around a corner of the house and over a bump in the yard, my lawn mower caught the corner of and proceeded to chew Mr. Wilson’s outdoor rug. Saying I was mortified doesn’t even come close. Obviously Mr. Wilson and I were destined to become good friends. I told him how these experiences we were having were excellent examples for my talk that Sunday. This experience didn’t happen on a Sunday, although we do try to plan our week on Sunday. And it was recorded in a journal on a Sunday. And I can use this experience today, in that while mowing I had been in unfamiliar territory, having no strategy, and choosing poorly my path around the yard. But my delight on the Sabbath continues to come when I read the recorded moment in my journal and remember. And my real delight came when Bro. Wilson remembered to show up in church to hear me speak. Our hearts were knit together in love over our shared experience of my damaging his property, and how he chose to respond to my inadequacies in the lawn business.

Remembering the Sabbath day, is like paying our tithing, or going to seminary. All are ways we can give a portion of ourselves to the Lord.

Elder Russell M. Nelson also said, “Think of this: In paying tithing, we return one-tenth of our increase to the Lord. In keeping the Sabbath holy, we reserve one day in seven as His. So it is our privilege to consecrate both money and time to Him who lends us life each day.”

These examples of service are all a small sacrifice for the Lord. If we can't make these small sacrifices for the Lord, how can we expect our children to sacrifice those things necessary to be temple worthy, or make the larger sacrifice for the Lord by going on a two year mission?

We received a letter from our eldest son Tanner, while on his mission, that said, “Last week we found a 75 year old lady, 75 years of being Catholic, while following up on one of her neighbors. While knocking on his door, she was staring at us rather curiously. At her baptism this week, she shared that while she was watching us knock on her neighbor’s door, we were shining. She said, “I saw a light illuminating from them, and knew that this light must be from God. I wanted to belong to God’s church and be a part of this light and feel the way it made me feel. They were like two angels across the street and now I have two angels in my house with me.” Tanner wrote, “These are the moments we live for, that we sleep on the floor for, eat rice and beans for, walk miles for and smell like African baboons for.”

As a mother, I add, these are the moments I live for, as no other reason would convince me to allow three of my sons to leave me for two years to live in Brazil. Delight came as I read his letter, but my real delight is in knowing that the small sacrifices my son made for the Sabbath helped him become the person I hoped he would become, and more.

Elder Groberg said, “Does the Lord love and bless those who keep the Sabbath day holy? I testify that he does in eternally meaningful ways. I further testify that when we eventually see things through the proper perspective of eternal truth, we will be amazed at how much we were blessed in important—though often unperceived—ways through keeping the Sabbath holy.” Our family has been blessed.

I found delight last Sunday in watching one son captivate two Primary children who were watching him take down the flag from the flag pole. And, seeing a son mouth the words of the sacrament hymn while he was preparing the sacrament, helped me worship more fully. Our example to others is always a way to serve.

When my son Hunter returned home at the end of July he was asked to return in August to report to the stake high council on his mission. He said this: “When I left, I visualized my perfect mission. And obviously that didn’t and never does happen. Nevertheless, I feel like I can say that I did what I needed to do, and learned what I needed to learn. One of those lessons is consecration. I’ve learned what it means to give everything to the Lord, and my desire to do exactly that grew stronger each day.”

When we make sacrifices for the Lord, small and large, we are worshiping more fully, and feeling delight in the consequences of our righteous actions.

Elder DeHoyos said, “Light comes from the devotion that we give to Sabbath day observance, in the Church as well as in the home; it is the light that grows as we keep ourselves unspotted from the world; it is the light that comes from offering up our sacraments on His holy day and from paying our devotions to the Most High—all of which enable us to always have His Spirit with us.” Our missionary Tanner, Hunter, and now Porter especially glow with this light.

This is the essence of sacrifice. When you give the Lord your time and energy, he gives you a new heart. My two sons, and now my third, chose to follow their prophet who asked each worthy young man to serve a mission. That’s a big sacrifice. But making small sacrifices, such as remembering the Sabbath day, helped them to be obedient.

May we all choose well our Sabbath Day strategies. May we be willing to make our lives a worthy sacrifice to the Lord. May we “always remember the Sabbath, keeping his commandments which he has given [us]; that [we] may always have his Spirit to be with [us],” to worship more fully and find delight in our daily lives. And in remembering the Sabbath, may we be blessed with His power to do good - for ourselves, our family, our community and nation, -  is my prayer.