I'm busier than ever before. I'm at work by 8 a.m. and rarely home before 5:30 p.m. During the evenings, I spend hours at the computer and on the phone. I make a weekly trip to Detroit for school, and monthly trips out of town on business.

The rest of my family is busy tool. My wife, Irene, has a job as a social worker. The boys have drama practices and violin lessons, and Irene and I have volunteer obligations. We entertain friends and family who come to visit.

Your lives are probably just as busy as mine. Thank God he has just the thing for us busy people: Sabbath rest. Just as Sabbath rest refreshed God after the busyness of the world's first week (Ex. 31:17), God intends for Sabbath rest to refresh us.

The Old Testament Sabbath meant more than rest. It was a sign of God's deliverance (Deut. 5:15) and of his sanctification of Israel (Ex. 20:12). But rest was close to the heart of it. "Six days you shall do your work, but on the seventh day you shall rest, so that your ox and your donkey may have relief, and your home-born slave and the resident alien may be refreshed," God commanded (Ex. 23:12, NRSV).

God gave the Sabbath to tired people who need refreshment and renewal. To get the full benefit from the Sabbath, however, we need to make sure we really do rest. Here are two suggestions for using this gift:

Don't confuse rest with leisure. Even though secular society has replaced Sunday rest with a host of weekend diversions, the two are not the same. Playing tennis, watching TV, or driving three hours to and from the cottage might be things you do in your leisure time, but they are not restful if you run yourself ragged on Sundays handling a traffic jam or working on your backhand.

On Sunday, set aside daily drudgery. Don't do the laundry, cook huge meals, or shop - unless you really have to. Plan all through the week for your Sunday. Make sure homework is done. Stock up on groceries. Leave your briefcase at the office. Try to stay away from clubs or sports or travel.

If you don't clear the Sunday schedule, then going to church and staying for Sunday school will be just two more activities on your to-do list that you'll have to squeeze between everything else. You won't rest; you'll simply fall into bed exhausted on Sunday nights, like you do every other night.

I'm not suggesting a new kind of legalism for Sunday observance. The Old Testament ceremonial laws concerning the Sabbath are a thing of the past (Gal. 4:9-11, Col. 2:14-17). On the other hand, even though Sabbath rest is built into the very structure of the cosmos, it can't bless you unless you reach out and take hold of it.

Rest from work is the perfect space in which to build Christian community. Look to the Heidelberg Catechism for guidance on this. Join the assembly of God's people on Sunday, participate in the sacraments, pray publicly, and give offerings to the poor. But above all, make Sunday a holy feast day, the catechism says. Invite friends over for dinner or have a potluck at church.

In our family, we feast every Sunday by gathering around the coffee table to have a cup of tea and some delicacy we don't otherwise have, such as chocolate or licorice. It's our Sabbath ritual.

We need Sabbath rest. Somehow, mysteriously and wonderfully, it offers the kind of refreshment and renewal that rest alone can't account for. That is because of God's promise: "If you call the Sabbath a delight...and if you honor it by not going your own way...then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land" (Isa. 58:13-14).