Soothing Sunday

Welcome to the first Soothing Sunday.  While you might choose to do work on Sunday, I generally don't.  I'd love to say it's because I'm such a good Christian that I truly observe the  Lord's day as a day of rest.  The truth is I'm actually very, very lazy.  So I try, instead, to bust my butt all week long so I can be a "pud" on the weekend.

Generally, my Sundays look something like this:

• wake up and groan-- after all it's my last day of the weekend and frankly, I wish it was later than 7 am
• lounge in bed until it becomes apparent that if I want to make it to church on time, without yelling, I need to get up, usually around 8:30 am.
• Attend Mass at 10 am-- usually I feel quite enlightened and on fire by the homily [more on that later]
• Realize that I am starving and either divert the car to McD or go to a Coney for "brunch" after mass at about 11:30 am.  I observe the requirement of fasting prior to taking part in Communion so it's usually been 16-18 hours since I've eaten.
• Get home and feel exhausted because I ate junk, so I take a nap.
• Realize it's 4 pm and I should probably get dinner going.  Also, generally discover the kids have made all sorts of crazy messes and get mad.
• Eat dinner while still seething about the mess
• Spend the rest of the day feeling like my day of rest is a day of how to be miserable.

Yep, that's how un-awesome my Sundays have been.  I'm neither modeling nor experiencing Awesomeness by 4 pm.  Not Cool!

So here it is-- the NEW plan: Soothing Sundays.

• plan ahead and set expectations with family on Saturday for Sunday
• set an alarm and get to Mass on time
• Plan ahead and have lunch in the works at home-- better for the budget and my waist line!
• Allow myself to nap, because someone else will be in charge of Sunday dinner [I just know my hubba-hubba-Hubbie will just love this new plan]
• ACCEPT that there will be mess and expect/establish Sunday evening clean up time.
• Enjoy my family for the rest of the day

Yep, that's my plan for Awesomeness.  What do you need to do to make your Sunday a more relaxed day of rest?

Now, I mentioned above being fired up by the homily in Mass.  Today I was definitely inspired.  We had a visiting priest and because we were late for Mass, I can't give you his name.  So, anonymity aside, he spoke about the gives of virtue that come from God.  The image that stuck with me was his analogy of being in a dark and very large (presuming empty) gymnasium and how a single candle lit across the room will pierce the darkness.  There is nothing the darkness can do to extinguish that light.  Wow!  That is awesome!  The Dark can not extinguish the Light!!!

Today's Mission:  Take 30 minutes to yourself and think about how your inner light might be surrounded by darkness and what can you do to push away the dark and grow your light.

If you're lucky, you can sneak away.  Chances are you're going to have to announce the following, "I'm going upstairs to sort my socks... if you follow me, I'm going to assume it's to ask me for extra chores/work."  And yes, if they follow you, give them a great job like: cleaning up the Tupperware, alphabetize the items in the pantry, dust the baseboards, etc.  And I'm not kidding!

Have a Soothing Sunday!