I just read great article in the Christian Science Monitor that really opened my eyes. Imagine the enormous good we would do the planet if we all observed the Sabbath! Give the earth a rest every seven days. It would be good for us and enormously good for the environment.
Personally, I don’t know how I’d survive if I didn’t observe a weekly day of rest. It is not a hard concept, but greed and public demand have taken that away from many of us. Recently, my sweet sister-in-law, upon hearing that the local Walmart was 200 people short of a full staff, suggested that they close the store on Sunday. It was a brilliant idea! The existing staff is stressed enormously to keep up a busy store. A day off would reduce the time demand significantly, allow the staff to catch their breath and all without reducing the sales volume significantly at all. People would just shop on the six remaining days.
I have a friend who moved from Brigham City, Utah to Evanston, Illinois, just north of Chicago. I asked him what the biggest shock he experienced as a result of the move to a much larger city. His reply shocked and shamed me. “In Evanston, all of the stores are closed on Sunday!”
Many of our youth are kept away from church, family and much needed rest, on the Sabbath because the only entry level jobs around, require working on Sunday. How much harm do we do them by this one solvable problem.
We could improve life on so many fronts if we’d just keep this simple commandment. Of course, the solution begins with each of us individually. If we don’t shop, travel, and dine out on Sunday, the establishments that cater to us won’t be able to justify staying open. It’s easy to think that my personal effort in that regard won’t make a difference. Each vote does count. And, we can do more, we can encourage others to join us.
This new environmental approach, gives me hope that we can gain some political clout in the quest for change, as well. The environment is a big deal these days. Simply keeping this one principle would do more for the environment than all the other efforts combined! It would be healthy, inexpensive, realistic and would bring imediate results! Let’s start pushing for it!
Big business will resist, of course! Just like the wealthy plantation owners and shipping giants in Britain, in the 18th Century, resisted the abolishment of the slave trade. But like the abolition of slavery, keeping the Sabbath Holy, is the right thing to do and it can prevail, if we insist upon it.
