Remember Saturday Night Preparations?

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy."

Exodus 20:8

And I'm sure you may remember this verse from Exodus.  My mother took this verse and not only applied it to the Sabbath day, or Sunday.  She began our preparations for keeping the Sabbath holy on Saturday night.

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Not to imply that this was our bathroom, but there was the requisite scrubbing at the hands of a mother who took cleanliness to heart and often to extremes.  So, in turn, we all got our Saturday night scrubbing.

And this included the head of hair we'd been blessed with, each thick and hard to dry but clean it must be!  The shine must be there on Sunday morning if no other morning in the week.  So, our scalp's got a good massage too.

Sunday best was laid on each of our beds, and these were clothes we were not allowed to wear on any other day, except for weddings and funerals.  My dresses were starched stiff and sometimes were scratchy.  The boys' pants creased knife sharp, and they had fake ties to wear.  Remember those?

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Most often, my dressy shoes were black patent leather, which meant that the worst I had to do was take a damp cloth and remove any dust, dirt or scuffs.  The boys had to do the entire cleanup, polish and buff routine.

But Mother wanted us to look our best for church.  As I grew older I understood this as I began to study God's Word.  Not only are we preparing for the Sabbath.  We are preparing to go into God's house, and he is due our very best in all respects.  This is where Mother's true heart resided -- in God and in honoring him each and every day.  And she was teaching us to do the same.

Q4U:  Do you have similar memories on Saturday nights, or maybe it was Sunday morning?  Or were you perhaps born at a later time when we had adjusted our thoughts to an understanding that what we are on the outside is not as important as what is on the inside?  I'd love to hear from you!