A Joyful Sabbath
Joseph Anderson Donetti lay sprawled on his back underneath the apple trees in Mac’s yard. He was waiting for the other members of the baptismal class to arrive. He looked up through the green leaves of the tree and studied the puffy, white clouds floating high in the sky. Some days the clouds scurried by, pushed quickly along by the wind. Today they just seemed to sit there, looking decorative.
Joseph heard car doors slam. He heard voices calling greetings to each other. It sounded like everyone had finally arrived. Joseph grinned to himself. He closed his eyes.
“I’ll go get Joseph,” Mac said. “I thought he’d be over here by now, but I haven’t seen him.” She started to run through the yard. She stopped. “There he is!” She pointed, and then said in a much softer voice, “It looks like he’s asleep!”
Pastor Chuck and Trevor and Hannah walked across the lawn to the apple tree. “He looks just like Adam, asleep on the sixth day of creation,” Pastor Chuck said with a little laugh in his voice.
Hanna giggled.
“If that’s the case, you need to say that I look very good,” Joseph said, opening one eye.
Mac plopped down beside him and punched his shoulder.
“It sounds like you’ve been reading in Genesis,” Pastor Chuck commented as he sat down on the grass and leaned against the tree trunk.
Joseph sat up. “I have,” he answered.
“Me too,” Hannah said. “I especially liked it where God looked at what He made each day and said that it was good. I sort of understand that part of the story better because my mom is taking a quilting class. Every time she comes home from class, she is so excited about the new part she has finished! And after she works on her quilt at home, she lays it out on the dining room table so she can see it all during the day. And sometimes she just stops and touches it and smiles.”
“Yeah, G.M. is like that too,” Joseph added. “Whenever she finishes one of her paintings, she hangs it up and looks at it a lot.”
“Me, too!” Trevor put in. “My dad and I build model airplanes together. And when we finish one and hang it up in my room, I really like lying in bed and just looking at it. It makes me feel good.”
“It’s neat to know that we can feel a little bit like God feels!” Mac exclaimed.
“That’s a great truth you guys have discovered,” Pastor Chuck said. “The more we get to know God, and the closer we get to Him, the more we feel like He feels and the happier we are. That’s why heaven will be such a wonderful place! We’ll be with God forever'”
“My mom told me that’s one reason God created the Sabbath,” Mac said. “He wanted to give us a day to spend with Him, getting to know Him better. She said it’s a relaxing, happy, special day that shows us a little bit about what heaven will be like. But I know some kids who don’t like Sabbath. They say it’s a boring day.”
“Yeah,” Trevor agreed. “Sometimes there’s nothing to do. It’s hard to sit still in church all morning and then sit around and not be able to do anything fun in the afternoon.”
“That’s a sad way to spend Sabbath,” Pastor Chuck answered. “God did not give us the Sabbath so we would be miserable. The Sabbath is a day of celebration. He says in the Bible that we should call the Sabbath a joyful day.” Pastor Chuck looked at Joseph. “That’s in Isaiah 58:13,” he said.
Joseph opened his red notebook and carefully wrote down the text. Then he looked up. “I never had a Sabbath before I came to Oregon,” he said. “I like it. I like going to church. And I especially like it that G.M. and I do stuff together on Sabbath. She doesn’t do her art, and she doesn’t clean house or go shopping. It’s like she doesn’t worry about anything on Sabbath. We spend time together doing special things. And I really like our baptismal class! And I like our potluck suppers afterwards. I think Sabbaths are cool! I’m going to miss them when I go home.”
“What are you talking about?” Mac asked. “You’ll have Sabbath at home. It comes every week, you know!”
“I know that!” Joseph retorted “I guess I mean it won’t be the same.” His voice trailed off.
“Why do you think God gave us Sabbath in the first place?” Pastor Chuck asked.
Everyone was quiet for a moment. Then Hannah spoke up. “I think Joseph kind of explained it when he said that his grandma doesn’t worry about anything on Sabbath. I mean, we’re supposed to trust in God, aren’t we? And if we trust in God, that means we’re not supposed to worry about things. But almost everybody does, except on Sabbath they kind of slow down and have a chance to remember God and that He taking care of them.”
“And when you keep the Sabbath you remember that God made the world—that He created everything. So you aren’t tempted to think that everything evolved from nothing,” Trevor said.
Pastor Chuck smiled at his class. “You guys are such a joy to teach!” he exclaimed. “But I have to give credit to the One who is really teaching you. I’m showing you a few things, but the Holy Spirit is the One who is speaking to your hearts and truly teaching you the things you need to know. It’s such a privilege for me to watch it happen! And it will keep happening as long as you keep wanting to know more about God and reading His word,” he added.
Joseph tipped his head back and looked up again through the branches of the apple tree. He studied the blue, blue sky. Somewhere far up there was heaven. Joseph smiled.
Suddenly Pastor Chuck’s voice brought Joseph’s attention back to earth. “I’ve got a great idea!” he said.
