Sabbath Activities

When I talked to Puff last Sunday, she mentioned that she had gone to church. (yea!) I was so proud of her for getting in there and figuring things out in a new place.

She did mention, though, that she was struggling a little bit with the REST of the sabbath day.

Now in our house, we have worked to make Sunday a day to grow closer to the Savior, and to our families. We try to rest our spirits from our regular worldly cares, so that we can concentrate on improving those relationships.

With that in mind, we've eliminated the birthday parties, sports, yardwork, and even recreation that some people choose to fill their Sundays, in favor of making the day a more restful day. We go to church, and then we try to find things to do together. We sleep, we watch uplifting movies (pretty much anything rated G is OK), we bake, we play the piano, we eat dinner outside - we study our scriptures and prepare our Sunday School lessons, etc for the upcoming week. No loud music, no crazy running around.

...Well, no crazy running around until about 7pm, when it sort of hits us that tomorrow is Monday, and, well, we have to actually be ready for the week.

(Yeah, gotta get better at that Sunday Night thing....)

Anyway -
It's been my experience that when we really try to make our Sundays a day to recharge our spirits, the rest of the whole week is more productive, and more positive. I don't know exactly what that's about, but I REALLY, REALLY know it's been true for us.

So, back to Puff - sitting in a dorm of loud music, people swearing, throwing footballs, blaring MTV, (insert cheesy movie dorm scene here)...whatever college kids do on their "off" day. I'm so pleased that she's already recognized the problem, and would LOVE to give her some ideas. I've been trying to think of things that she can do there in the dorm, that would be appropriate for Sunday, and yet not really single her out as a weirdo.

** Hey, in my dorm we listened to the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, stayed in our church clothes, and either read scriptures and lessons, or sat around telling faith promoting experiences we've had in our lives. -- I'm guessing that in any other dorms, besides BYU, that would have made us freakishly close to weirdos!

I do WANT her to be different than everyone else, but does she have to be labeled a "religious freak" to be different? Moderation is good in just about everything...

SO Here's what I've come up with SO FAR:

Update her blog (personal history)
Journal
Write letters
* grandparents
* family and friends
* missionaries
* thank-yous for any packages she might receive
Study her Institute or Sunday school or Relief Society lesson
Work on her calling (when she gets one)
Watch uplifting movies - Current and Classic
Do something nice for someone else.
Invite someone who needs a friend to eat lunch in the cafeteria.
Paint, draw, creative writing...

Any other suggestions or uplifting stories about keeping the Sabbath Day holy would be more than welcome at this point.

Potterisms

I like Harry Potter!
Remember when the first book came out and there was so much controversy over the "evil influences"? Buddy wanted to read it SO badly, and I told him I would read it first and then we'd talk about it. I loved it and I still do!

I think its GOOD to teach children that there is good and bad all around us, and for them to have role models (both real and fictional) that deal with it well. How else will they learn that their mission is to follow Christ even when there is bad all around us. We somehow choose and defend the good, partly because we've been taught by example.

Here are some of my very favorite quotes.
(Interesting that my favorite quotes come from just 2 characters...)

Sirius Black:

"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

"We have all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the power we chose to act on. That’s who we really are."















Dumbledore:

"It's our choices, Harry, that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

"We are as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided."

"It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to enemies, but just as much to stand up to our friends."

"Time is short, and unless the few of us who knows the truth do not stand united, there is no hope for any of us."