I have long suggested (because a friend gave me a helpful tip long ago) that one of the keys is to "set it apart" from every other day of the week. (Which is precisely what the Hebrew word, 'qadosh,' really means. Too many kids seem to hear the word "holy" and come to understand it must mean "boring".)
The rules for the weekly sabbath are not very onerous at all.
In fact, you can pretty much count all of them on your fingers. But it's also true that by the time of Yahushua, the 'rabbis' of the day had "added to" that list with over 1600 onerous burdens. And they didn't even have cars or light bulbs to prohibit yet!
I have also long suggested that the "head of house" is the arbiter, in accord with the Word, and his own understanding, of what constitutes "work" for those under his authority. Being paid to dig a ditch, or - in my case - design a circuit, may seem fairly obvious. As is being a good steward of the animals he has given to us to care for.
So, if one of them "falls in a ditch" - that, too, is obvious. Likewise, if a neighbor's car does, when the road down the hill becomes a mud trap.
When I was still a 'wage slave' - I did my best over time to arrange my schedule to avoid doing things I knew Scripture said not to.
As did the friend I mentioned, who by then was a fairly senior Air Traffic Controller who worked at the local GA reliever airport tower where I occasionally flew in. He could almost always arrange to have Sabbath (and feast days when possible) off.
But there was an occasional exception, due to illness or some emergency.
In those cases, he told me, I try to find "some small way to make it Special, and set that day apart." Break the routine - do something different than he otherwise would. It was about "remembering" and 'keeping' the Sabbath of YHVH - even under conditions he didn't ordinarily prefer.
PS> Among other things, a nap that I don't ordinarily have time for, is nice.
I may take that advice though, thank you!
