Sweet, Sweet Rest

I am always shocked by the dizzying speed of life. I thought when my kids were all in school this fall that I would have all sorts of time to myself to rest, to get things done around the house and to tackle some projects that I've wanted to do for years; and yet...life races on. For one example, I would love to be able to blog more, but I never seem to have the time. I love to reflect on things going on in my life by writing about them...always have. I've had diaries since I was a teenager (piles of them in my bedroom closet).

Part of me loves to be busy. In a way I thrive on busyness. I love to have my chaos somewhat organized, but I enjoy having things to do; and yet... it's not until these rare opportunities where I actually FORCE myself to stop and to rest, when I realize how much I need it. You see, today is the first day where all 3 of my kids are away at school and I don't have "things to do". Well, that's not true, there are always things to do (I just have to look around me as I type this), but I am willfully choosing to not do anything today except rest. It's surprising to me how difficult a task this actually is, but I'm doing it anyway :)

Last weekend Joel's mom and dad offered to take our kids overnight for the first time ever :) They just bought a new trailer and dad was eager to show it off and there was a carnival at Zurich church that we wouldn't be able to take the kids to, and they wanted to take them. It was such a treat to have an afternoon/evening to ourselves without having to find a sitter. My darling husband took the initiative to call our dear friends Ian & Val who have a cottage in their backyard that they allow people in ministry to use for free as their way of blessing others. What an incredible treat it was!!! We didn't get to Bayfield until probably 3 pm and knew we had to leave by 8 am the next morning, but we were determined to make the most of it...and we did.

We spent the afternoon browsing through Bayfield boutiques and gift stores, enjoying food and drinks at local restaurants there and just talking together. We had considered going to one of the bars to enjoy some live music, but were both so exhausted that we both fell asleep by 9:30 pm as we watched Faulty Towers shows. I can hardly find the words to express what a blessing it was to just savour time alone with my hubby. It was probably the best 6 1/2 hours I've spent in a long, long time! Even though it wasn't a long get-away it was almost as though time stood still and the evening was sweet and long.

Here is a little sitting room in the beautiful cottage, with freshly picked roses still wet with dew from that morning!

Here are my beautiful roses once again, lovingly picked my "other mum" Val :) Love you!

After another insane week of not seeing my husband (even though it was his week off from Ambulance), I am taking today as my "sabbath". I'd love to get in the habit of taking some time monthly to just be. Be quiet, reflect, be with God, without the "to do lists" spinning through my head (do you know how hard it is as a woman to turn those off?).

One of my favourite meeting places with God is my upstairs bathtub. When I need to connect there is something about climbing into a deep tub of decadently hot water and soaking. I can think of several times when I've worked through some emotional issues with His help while soaking there ( I also fondly remember working through contractions in that tub with His help as I laboured with Lyric ). This morning He spoke to me through a book that I've been reading called "Messy Spirituality"by Yaconelli. I LOVE the way my Daddy can speak directly to my heart in so many different ways, when I pay attention ( I had no idea what I would be reading in the book today, I just started off where I had last finished). This morning it was this:

"What keeps us from growing is not sin but speed"

"Speeding through life endangers our relationships and our souls"

"Speed damages our souls because living fast consumes every ounce of our energy. Speed has a deafening roar that drowns out the whispering voices of our souls and leaves Jesus as a diminishing speck in the rear view mirror"

"Christianity is not about inviting Jesus to speed through life with us; it's about noticing Jesus sitting at the rest stop"

"Jesus came to give us rest...however, most of us do not know how to rest. Actually, we do know how to rest; we simply refuse to rest. Rest is a decision we make. Rest is choosing to do nothing when we have too much to do, slowing down when we feel pressure to go faster, stopping instead of starting. Rest is listening to our weariness and responding to our tiredness, not to what is making us tired"p. 98

Thank you Lord, for helping me to stop for today. Help me to listen to my soul and to you today.

Melanie