“This is the day, this is the day, that the Lord has made, that the Lord has made,
I will rejoice, I will rejoice, and be glad in it!”
Imagine, your best day.
You slept amazingly and you get to sleep in. When you wake up, it’s the soft kind of waking up. There’s no jarring alarm, just the slow rise of your own heart’s beating until the pale light through the window paints across your eyelids.
There isn’t any housework to do this morning. Instead of slaving in the kitchen, your favorite meal is waiting on you at the table. Instead of garbage food filled with artificial colors and flavors, this meal is hand-cooked, from scratch, all natural ingredients. It’s beautiful. The colors are bright and the flavors are rich. You eat until you’re satisfied. You don’t over-eat and you don’t have a sugar crash. You feel great.
You are heading to church today and the fuel gauge is on “full”. Your car is the perfect temperature and when you slip into the seat, your best friend is in the passenger seat. You spend the drive to church talking and laughing together. You sing your favorite songs and pick up your favorite coffee and dessert on the way.
You have the best service everywhere you go. Your favorite worship team is leading out today. The seats are uncrowded and you get to sit with all your favorite people.
This particular day, you feel like worshipping until nightfall. You stop only to eat a meal with all your friends. You stop only to talk to the people you love. You stop when it’s time to drive home, but at home there’s a warm fire in the hearth. Wood crackles and yellow light flickers around the living room. You sit in the most comfortable chair in the universe. A blanket your Granny made lays across your lap and your favorite book sits next to the chair. You open the book and wrap your hand around a warm cup of coffee or tea.
You fall into a whimsical story, fall asleep reading, and sleep like a baby, dreaming of the ocean, or the mountains.
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So you just dropped into my best day–or a version of it.
The truth is we all have our own idea of what our best day looks like, and this is pretty close.
Too often people are afraid of believing in God because of the way heaven may look.
Mainstream media and many churches portray heaven as a boring place to spend eternity. Strumming harps on a bed of puffy, white clouds seems a boring existence. Singing in a heavenly choir forever seems quite boring even if you like to sing. Even the theory of gaining wings and flying here and there or playing with lions or exploring the universe….they can all seem boring after a few hundred years…right?
Imagine, though, heaven on earth. Imagine what you might be able to do with your Sabbath day if you have the choice to make it your own.
What would Sabbath be like if it was up to just you, your family, and God?
I challenge you to plan a whole afternoon for yourself and God next Sabbath. If you attend a church, you most likely go int he morning hours, so take some time this week to consider how you’d like to spend your afternoon.
Don’t think about the “traditional” Sabbath activities that come to mind. Think outside the box. Think about what you’d genuinely love to do for the afternoon.
Do you want to read? Have you really wanted to ride your bike? Maybe you want to go pick apples at a local orchard or meet up with a friend you haven’t seen in awhile.
**Take time today to write out your perfect day (on earth) and use some of the ideas to help plan your Sabbath afternoon next week.
