If joy is triggered through feeling connected to God, dropping the hustle becomes even more important. Indeed, in Psalms we read, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). Think of the biblical story portrayed in the hymn, “Master the Tempest is Raging.” There was a huge storm that arose while Christ and the apostles were on the sea. The apostles were worried for their very lives while Jesus simply slept on the boat. They woke him saying, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” The Savior awoke and rebuked the sea, saying, “Peace, be still” and the waves were calm. Could Christ have also been speaking to his apostles? After all, where did his inner calm come from; what allowed him to sleep through the tempest? It came from his connection with his Father, from knowing who he was and why he was here.
The Sabbath was designed as dedicated time where we cease from our labors and focus on Heavenly Father and the work he has for us to do. What a wonderfully perfect way for us to simply slow things down and partake of the spirit.
Three years ago, my husband was branch president; I would get my children ready for church, which included a struggle with an adolescent that was refusing to attend church with us. I would wrestle through sacrament meeting with the rest of the toddlers, and then off to teach a very challenging class of sunbeams, which my own child was a part of. Then, I would gather up all my wonderful blessings and head home on my own to prepare dinner as kids repeatedly whined about being hungry. I remember well President Nelson’s General Conference talk entitled, “The Sabbath is a Delight.” It was anything but delightful. In fact, it was the hardest day of the week.
However, I knew that the Lord does not lie and that if Isaiah had declared that the Sabbath could be a delight, then I was doing something wrong. Eventually, I decided to honestly assess what my sabbath was like, as well as changes I could make to create the delightful day that Christ had promised it could be. While I still feel like my Sabbath day observance is miles from what it ought to be, I know that through changes I made, and am still making, I am finding more delight in the Sabbath day; that as I “rest from [my] labors, and . . . pay [my] devotions unto the most high . . . that [my] joy [is] full” (D&C 59:10,13).
Elder Ballard has recently reminded us of the Sabbath’s potential and how to unlock it. He said:
“The power of the Sabbath day is to experience in church and at home the delight, the joy, and the warmth of feeling the Spirit of the Lord without any kind of distraction.
. . . If we do not find time to unplug, we may miss opportunities to hear the voice of Him who said, ‘Be still, and know that I am God.’”
What are some changes that you might need to make to feel more joy on the Sabbath?
What are some distractions that you can eliminate to more fully experience the delight and joy of the sabbath?
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