ANY GIVEN OR TAKEN SUNDAY

Today is Sunday; presumably the one day of the week when rest and relaxation are allowed to be plumbed guilt-free.  I mean, if someone asks you tomorrow what you did on Sunday and you respond, "Nothing really.  I slept late, read the 'Times' and pretty much just laid around all day." they wouldn't think twice or feel the least bit inclined to pass judgement.  In fact, they might well simply answer, "Me too."

However, if someone asks you on a Wednesday what you did all day on Tuesday and you gave them that same answer, they'd likely have an entirely different presumptive internal response and might assume you are either unemployed, chronically indolent, or perhaps have an issue with substance abuse.

About the only requirement on Sunday, for those vested in the ritual of prayer and reflection in a more formal setting, would be church attendance; but even that obligation usually concludes by noon at the latest leaving the rest of the day open and devoted to rest and a possible muffin, eggs over-easy and bacon at brunch.  It's all good.

We are expected to be occupied Mondays through Saturdays, and unless one of those days is legitimately our one day off from work or we are lying in a hospital bed, we'd better have a good excuse for any evidence of a laissez faire-attitude or endorsement.

Sunday is a blessed day for secular reasons, too, as it offers grace even to those not of a mind to attach any sacred or religious values to the day.  Perhaps we should view it as the space-time continuum's version of the Parker Brother's "Get-out-of-jail-free" card in Monopoly; although now that I've said it, I find the comparison between the Cosmic Designer of our galaxy and two brothers from Salem, Massachusetts (who also produced a couple of  patently racist board games in the early 1920's) extremely disturbing.  It was only the the 'free-pass' element I was intending to focus upon, just to make that completely clear.

But on Sunday we've got carte blanche and are, without exception, entitled to exercise that pass-card and escape from whatever form of physical, emotional, cerebral or psychological incarceration we are bound by the remaining six days of the week.  It is a cosmic law, I think.

If you really examine our perception and expectation of Sunday, you'd realize that just like nearly everything else we humans concoct, deconstruct, impose and abide by, it is really all in our minds.

WE are the sole creators of the concept of Sunday, and of Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and all the rest of the days.  We even gave them cute little names to correspond with the celestial bodies most representational of each specific day; and those celestial bodies were, prior to that, named by the ancient Romans after the mythological gods they felt most effectively jived with the nature of the specific planetary energies.  Somewhere in between those rounds of naming, the Germanic people interjected their own linguistic spin on the names using the Nordic gods corresponding to the theme and energies of the originals but keeping the concept firmly intact.

Like everything else, God didn't construct the fine details of our world.  He gave us a template and the bones of it all and just let us go to town.  His request of us was simple and uncomplicated:  To love and honor Him first, and to love each other as we would ourselves.   It seems to me that we were the ones to conceive of the laws and rules and strictures as to how, when and why these basic tenants should be carried out and under what conditions would they be deemed acceptable and viable.

I don't think He expected us to lay around the house and love Him more on Sunday or is as petty as to remand us to everlasting hell fires if, by necessity, we had to report to work that day in order to make the rent or mortgage payments.

In fact, until the exodus of enslaved Jews from Egypt under the command of Moses, there were no recommendations or edicts from on High mandating that we set aside one day in particular to worship and give thanks; and when that came about, it was merely to signify the pact between God and the Israelites.  Unfortunately, I think they might have taken it a tad too seriously and the penalty for violating this mandate of Sabbath observance was death.

Of course, the Sabbath Day was on the seventh day; Saturday.  Once Christ came and delivered the 'New Testament', there was no further mention of any specific day of religious observance.  Basically, it comes down to each man, as it says in Romans 14:5-6  "One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike.  Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind."

There it goes; back in our court again.

We lay so much unnecessary guilt upon our psychologies.  We are the ones who felt compelled to bend, twist, designate and carve up time within our linear parameters and call it organization.  But as the great sophist philosopher, Antiphon, said, "Nature is envisaged as requiring spontaneity and freedom in contrast to the often gratuitous restrictions imposed by institutions."  He also said, "Time is not a reality but a concept as a measure."

So, we gave ourselves days of the week with attributes and corresponding duties, which, in turn provided us with just that much more reason to fret if we fail to conform and comply.  Friday night is 'pizza night' or 'date night'; Saturday you play, go to the park with your dog and a Frisbee, clean the yard, go to the mall; Sunday you attend religious services, rest and relax (or if you're Italian, you have every family member within a fifty-mile radius over for a pasta dinner); Monday, you get back to the grind...etc., etc..  We even gave ourselves a modest, mid-week reprieve designating Wednesday as "hump-day", which basically declared it a non-day.  Poor Wednesday; overlooked like a middle child.

Frankly, I find the whole structural mess we've made to be a bit stultifying, even though I am also well aware of the need for a certain sense of order in the world.  I just wish we'd put more emphasis on our Internal order and less on what day of the week we decide is laundry day or errand day or the designated day for worship and rest.

Why can't everyday be UNCONDITIONAL LOVE WITH ALL OF MY HEART DAY?

Thomas Chalmers had the right idea when in the mid-1800's he said, "We redeem time and do not merely use it.  We transform it into eternity by living it right."

But the ultimate characterization of time still comes from Ford Perfect in Douglas Adams' book and screenplay, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY:


"TIME IS AN ILLUSION, LUNCHTIME DOUBLY SO."


With that in mind, have a great day!