When I first got married I knew that I wanted to set a solid foundation for our weekends. That is when my husband was home from work, we would often entertain guests, and it was a time of rest for us.
And I wanted our weekends to be as organized and stress free as possible.
Every Friday is my prep day and the day that I reset my home and heart so that my family and I can have a nice, peaceful weekend and Shabbat.
Here are the things that I like to do each Friday to reset my home and heart to help our weekend run more smoothly!
Make sure the house is all clean.
I’m sure that many women do this on their prep day but I was wanting to mention it nonetheless. I don’t do a deep house cleaning every Friday. That is just unrealistic in my current season. But I like to make sure that the house is tidy of clutter, that the kitchen is cleaned, and that I do a quick vacuum.
Finish up any work related things.
I like to make sure that I have finished up any projects and work stuff before the Sabbath comes. That way my mind is not concentrating on those things and I can instead focus fully on my Heavenly Father.
Do the last load of laundry for the week.
Fridays are my day to finish up all the laundry that I have been putting off during the week. I like make sure that we have all of our clothes cleaned before Friday evening.
Put a good oil blend in my diffuser.
Essential oils are one of God’s amazing creations that He made to help us support ourselves. I like to put a good, grounding oil blend in my diffuser on Friday afternoons such as cedarwood, lavender, or the surrender blend.
Pray as I prepare my bread for the weekend.
To be honest, baking bread is not one of the most relaxing things to me, but I love making it for the Sabbath. And I’ve gotten into the habit of praying as I make the dough, knead it, and braid it. It helps me to prepare my heart and reset my mind from the past week.
Focus on the Lord as I do my responsibilities.
I believe we should be doing this everyday and all the time. But I try to be extra conscious of focusing on things of the Lord as I go about my responsibilities and work on resetting my home each Friday. Doing this really helps me to reset my heart and mind to focus on the Lord and what He made His Sabbath to be.
Pray over and anoint the rooms of my home.
Each week I will go into a few different rooms in my home and pray over those rooms. I will pray for the people that will enter them in the upcoming week. I will ask my Heavenly Father to fill their minds and hearts with Him and bless whoever spends time in those rooms that week.
Reorganize areas of my home.
If there are areas in my home that are getting cluttered or just mixed up during the week, I will reorganize and tidy those spaces to help our weekends not feel cluttered too.
Rotate my little one’s toys.
On Fridays I have gotten into the habit of rotating my boy’s toys. This is something that I started to do recently to help him not get bored with his toys and I like to do this on Friday so he too can be reset for the weekend.
Prepare our meals.
I like to have our meals planned out for the Sabbath and make sure that I have them either made or prepared as much as I can. That way I don’t have to worry about cooking, a lot of clean up, or what to even make on busy weekends.
Pour out my heart to my Heavenly Father.
If it has been a very tiring or stressful week, I make sure to take time to pour my heart out to the Lord before the Sabbath comes. I will just talk to Him about where my heart is and ask Him to help me find peace on His day of rest.
These are some of the things that I like to include in my preparation day that help me reset my home and heart for our Father’s Sabbath and our weekend.
To be honest, some Fridays I do not get all of these things done. There are those crazy days when all I can do is make sure the dishes are washed and that I say a quick prayer as I’m doing them. And that doesn’t make my weekend turn out bad.
But when I am able, I like to incorporate these things into my day of preparation to help my home run more smoothly, our Sabbath to be more fulfilling, and my heart to be fully reset for my Heavenly Father on the weekend.
In His amazing love,
Hannah Marie
