do i tell you what i am about to tell you because i think it's better than how most people spend their sunday? yes. i tell you what i am about to tell you because i think it's better. waaaaaay better. (including waaaaaay better than how i spend mine.)
abby and eli, like most mormons, do not spend money on sunday. nor do they go to places where they themselves wouldn't necessarily have to spend money but other people choose to. like a festival,for example.
this leaves out just about everywhere.
they don't go to the movies on sunday. not to the grocery store. not out to eat. not to a fair and not, as i said, to a festival........they. don't. go. any.where. (well, except to church.)
they discourage others from buying them things on a sunday. they prefer that others do their Christmas shopping for them on any day other than a sunday. but. they are not rude. they do not allow their sunday practices to trump gratitude. if you buy them something on sunday, they will not refuse it. they will say thank you. they will be grateful to you for it. and they will wait till monday to use it.
but, "avoiding the marketplace," for them, goes far beyond simply shunning the transfer of money from one hand to the other on the Sabbath. not spending money is just a part of it. if all they did was not go to pizza hut, where would the big deal be in that? not going to the mall, without replacing that activity with a holier one, would pretty much be "big hat/no cattle." and they know that. so, they don't just stay away from the fair.
they concentrate even harder on their obligations as wife,husband, mom, and dad. they read more Scripture. they pray more. they center their entire day on their family. as opposed to centered on the mall - with their family tagging along.
i have not adopted their sunday practice, but i admire it. the reason i admire it is - there's no good reason not to. and, there's no good reason not to do it.
there are plenty of "that's really not necessary" reasons not to do it and plenty of "why is enjoying your family over a nice meal at a nice restaurant so bad" reasons not to do it.
but there are no good reasons not to do it.
