Very few of us are good at resting. Sabbath is intended to be a gift, not a burden, but for many of us it takes a lot of effort and sacrifice to practice.
One of the ways that I see this most often in my life is daily interactions with my young children. Most days I have a list of things I “need” to get done, and ideally several of those things can be accomplished while my children are entertaining themselves. I often find myself getting frustrated that my kids are demanding my attention when I feel that I should be doing a task. When it comes to resting, we can direct these same emotions onto God. Why is God asking me to stop and rest when I have so much to get done? Somebody has to do the dishes/mow the lawn/clean the house/do the work, etc. etc.
But guess what? Those things can wait till tomorrow. It’s not our job to keep everything together. The world turns just fine without our help (God’s got a pretty good hold on that). He just wants us to trust that He will take care of it. We are His children, and He knows what is best for us. The goal of sabbath is not that we just don’t work or that we rush to get our tasks done early so we can take some well-deserved rest. Part of the point is that we DON’T get the work done! How humbling to be reminded that we CANNOT do it all, (but God can). At the end of the day, and the end of this life on earth, what really matters? The things we do today might seem important, but we can’t take them with us to eternity. The time we spend with God though, the time we choose to pause and turn our hearts back to Him, is building for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all (2 Cor. 4:17)
For Christian believers, Sabbath is not so much a day, as a person. The Sabbath laws were answered and fulfilled in the person of Jesus Christ. So, find rest in Him. Every day, and intentionally through the practice of Sabbath. There is so much beauty that comes from setting aside your work and remembering the Lord. Shabbat replenishes us. It brings things back into perspective. It honors God. It is a beautiful practice to teach your children and practice together as a family.
God loves us simply because He is love. Our children love us simply because we are their parents. Both just want to spend time with us and have our full, undivided attention. Don’t let the distractions and the toils of this world take you away from God or the precious moments he allows us to spend with our loved ones here and now.