The first day of the week (or the last day, depending on how you look at it) has traditionally been a day of rest. It’s a time for visiting with family, going to church, strolling by grave-sites to honor loved ones who have passed, sharing a meal with extended family, and simply relaxing. Many stores, restaurants, bars, and clubs were closed to allow families to stay home and be together – to cherish those rare moments when families can just be with each other. It was a time to celebrate time off, whether by playing croquet in the yard or watching a movie together. You can read more about it here.
The Modern Sunday: Busy and Over-Scheduled
Boy, have things changed! In today’s world, Sunday is one of the busiest days of the week. Years ago, people wouldn’t dare schedule sports events, practices, or birthday parties on Sundays. But now, Sundays are packed with long to-do lists, preparing for the even busier week ahead. According to a Reuters survey, many working parents do all of their grocery shopping and errand running on Sundays. Take-out dinners and delivered pizzas on Sunday are just as common as on the often-celebrated Friday nights. Sunday has become laundry day, grass-cutting day, and the only day of the week people have to wash windows, touch up painting, or start yard work.
Certainly, we live in a busy society. We’ve lost touch with the concept of a “day of rest” and forgotten one of the simplest aspects of our being: being. We are called human beings for a reason, yet very few of us take time to just be. Instead, we are constantly doing—running here and there, feeling unsettled and anxious when we try to relax, trying to fit everything in, and making the most of every available daylight hour.
The irony is that no matter what we accomplish on Sundays—whether it’s errands, work, or shopping—we’ll only have to do it all again another day. Perhaps, instead of scheduling our Sundays, we should take a small piece of advice from generations before us. They encouraged us to use Sundays as a day for family.
A famous quote by Albert Schweitzer says:
“Do not let Sunday be taken from your soul. If your soul has no Sunday, you become an orphan.”
Of course, the quote was meant metaphorically. No one can actually take Sunday away from us—it comes every week whether we want it or not. Yet the advice in this quote holds profound meaning, something many of us miss in today’s fast-paced world of “do-it-all parenting” and “having-it-all living,” which often leaves us feeling empty.
Ask yourself this: In ten years, will you remember the grocery shopping or your employee’s wedding? Will you remember backyard games of tennis? Will the take-out pizza bring you more solace than sitting around your parents’ table, sharing a meal as a family? In ten years, will the ball games and practices replace time with your loved ones? Will you have the same opportunities to be with your family as you do today? And most importantly, what kind of legacy are you leaving for your children? One that empowers them to set priorities, to take at least one day each week to recuperate and be with loved ones? Or one that pushes them to keep doing, doing, doing—constantly chasing the hamster wheel of a life spent in motion rather than in stillness?
Perhaps the most important question to ask yourself is this: Don’t you deserve ONE stinking day each week to relax, enjoy yourself, let time coast by without planning, do what strikes your fancy, or nothing at all—to simply be?
It’s no secret that stress and anxiety disorders are at an all-time high in modern society. There are more people regularly taking Xanax and Klonopin than there are taking over-the-counter pain relievers. Nearly every illness—mental, physical, or even deadly—is rooted in stress. And despite advancements in healthcare and medicine, we are a “sicker” world than ever before.
Could taking back our Sundays be the cure? Or at least a start? Could it be that shutting down technology, turning off phones, not answering emails, not working, not spending money, and not leaving your home for just one day could help us lead happier, more fulfilled lives? The only way to find out is to try it. Reclaim your Sunday for what it is—a day of rest, a day of being, a day to celebrate the people and things you love in life.
