“Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards.”
― Søren Kierkegaard
Is Sunday still special for you? Is it still different to the other days of the week? To us in the west, it is the day of rest; reflection; religion and recharge. In some Muslim countries and Israel, Sunday is the first work day of the week, which I find a strange concept. a wonderful article made me reflect on today.
For me, growing up, Sunday was a special day of the week. When I was little; it was the day when I went – with my younger brother – to Sunday school. Dressed up in our finest, we would be taken to the small school behind the church and there, be given biscuits and squash. [I don’t know why that is the first memory I have of the place. Perhaps it the fact we so rarely had biscuits at home]. We were allowed to play and draw and listen to stories. Stories from the bible. That’s what I remember. At some point, and I do not know why, we stopped going to Sunday school.
Instead, it became more of a family day. Dad would take me and bro out and we would go visit our grandparents in the morning. Return home in time for a sunday roast and perhaps a walk in the afternoon. The evening was always cut short, as it was school the following morning. My brother and I were shooed off to bed earlier than normal, somewhere around seven o’clock.
As we got older, the walking and trips out become more frequent and we would take packed lunches or a primus stove to heat up beans and tea. Progressing into the late teens and it was more a case of lazing in bed after a late night out on the Saturday. With the inevitable shout up the stairs to “..get out of bed as lunch was on the table!”
Into adulthood and our own children, Sunday has always been a day where we did something as a family together. A walk. A trip to the seaside. A walk along the River Thames. Always something special. Never a work day. A day of reconnection.
Now as the children have grown up and spend their time with their horse at the horse yard, Sunday has become the one day of the week where I can be in a reflective space. Quiet. Thoughtful. I think of the week that has occurred and the week to come. I do not worry about either. It is yet being present and accepting what has happened and what will be.
All too quickly will the day be over and the work week commence. However, till then, I wish you all a reflective Sunday. Oh and for Mum’s everywhere, Happy Mothering Sunday.
By the way, this is my 100th article. Hope you enjoyed it. Would love to hear your memories of a Sunday; what you did growing up; and what you do now.
I leave you with the following quote which really touched me:
“By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest.”
Martin Summerhayes 