Fridays have a special meaning for my family and me. My wife, Nadine, has made it a part of her hunt to hold together tradition for our family. Each Friday night, we light candles, say prayers and largely go without TV or electronics as we celebrate Shabbat, our day of rest. The first few Fridays were a little rough (I’m not going to lie), but observing Shabbat has begun to mean more and more to me.
The first and last couple hours can be trying, with three young boys who are used to a life full of electronic distractions and screen time. What my wife and I have realized is they won’t be young forever, and we want to know who they are and want them to know us. As my kids grow as people, so do I. In fact, we should never stop growing. We are always learning, and that is what any good hunter does. When we pull away from the smart phones, leave the Wii unplugged and hide the kids iPads we grow as a family and as people.
Instead of watching the latest episode of a TV show or another animated movie, we talk, we show gratitude, we play board games, we read books and in turn, we grow closer and find more common ground. We learn new things about each other, we see and notice different details in nature, in our home, about our friends and family, you name it.
My takeaway for you is this: while celebrating Shabbat or whatever day of rest you choose, you set yourself up for a better tomorrow. There will never be enough time to finish all our work, or feel like we are caught up, but that is why Shabbat was created thousands of years ago (the first reference is 630 BC). It is by taking control of your life and slowing it all down that your best day can come to fruition.
First, however, the rest must happen, the “slow it all down time”, so by Monday you’re back in the hunt kicking ass and taking names. The Hunt never stops but sometimes we must slow down to take the big targets that mean the most to our lives and the ones we love.
