Time to make the donuts… drag along your apron, feet scuffing the floor, shoulders drooping, and a need for a large cup of Joe.

The Dunkin’ Donuts guy gets me. He’s been making donuts at 4 am since I was a babe.  Every day he’s been faithful to the commercial. The Old Fashioned and Chocolate Glazed treats won’t make themselves and the need to smell them in the air around my house was a must when I was five years old. He got me, this routine sold me. I needed something solid, and memorable to hold on to as I encountered life.

Fast forward 35 years and the kids laugh at me as I propel myself each morning mumbling something about donuts.

“Oh, Mom’s just being weird again,” daughter number two seems to say most days. But the things is, she expects me to say this weird phrase. If I don’t, she expects some other catchy rambling depending on the task at hand. She knows the routine of actions based off of my routine of words.

I guess I tend to be a bit quirky at times.

You can blame my Midwest up-bringing with my grandparents and cousins who all knew each other’s minds by which eye twinkled or the slant of our nod. We could tell the time of day, what we were planning for dinner, which kind of trouble we planned to get into, and who we were going to blame for the broken dish all by the routine of our stance.

I question if this is the legacy to leave behind to my children. Do I want to be known as the one sometimes called “odd” while they giggle to each other. Rolling my eyes, I tell them that the apple doesn’t always fall far from the tree. I really don’t agree with that statement, but if we’re talking quirks and oddities, it might apply. But we’re talking legacy here, and having a tradition of fun, laughter, and meaningful play between family members is something that I treasure. I would hope that when I am my mother’s age I can sit with my girls and laugh at the times of their youth while linked arm-in-arm on an old plastic covered couch.  Yes, they laugh about that one as well. We don’t have plastic on a couch, but my great-aunt might rub off on me one day.

With all of this said, I do need have to have a serious look at routine in my house.

We seem to follow a pretty decent schedule when we look at our schooling for the day and we are never late to activities. I plan dinner according to events of the week most of the time. The thing I am highly lacking is a routine or lack there of when it comes to rest.

Rest is so important. We stress taking a self-care day in my on-line ministry. We talk about if frequently, but I never seem to take the advice to heart.

I see the importance and I acknowledge the Lord’s command. My struggle is within myself. Whenever I do sit or rest at any given point in my day, I fall asleep and then upon the grouchy wakening the guilt sets in. My family and I need to understand the need for Sabbath and the command behind it. It should be part of the routine but not set up like an item on a to-do list.

Mark 2:27 ESV And he said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.

This is the reminder that I need every time the guilt starts to roll in or if any kind of schedule is tipped on its side. God made rest for Himself and set a time to enjoy His creation. Because we are made in his image, He understands our need to rest and to take care.

The other day our family was talking about the Sabbath on the way home from church. We spoke about a need to fellowship and then to take time as a family to enjoy the day. We understood that life doesn’t stop and responsibilities must be met, but we can do so from a stance of rest. He can delight in the Lord’s purpose for His people.

Hebrews 4:9-11  So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.