Time
to Rest
“When
we rest, we can relish the seasons of a moment, a day, a conversation. In relationships,
we sense the rhythms of contact and withdrawal, of giving and receiving, of
coming close, pulling away, and returning. To surrender to the rhythms of
seasons and flowerings and dormancies is to savor the secret of life itself.”
Wayne
Muller (Sabbath: Restoring the Sacred Rhythm of Rest, p.69)
The
rhythms of the seasons give context and background to our lives. Today is
October 4th; the 2020 Harvest Moon rises tonight. Yesterday, as I
watered my garden, I realized that it is done with its growing season. I will
pull out plants and lay it to rest for the winter this week. The time for
dormancy is fast approaching.
2020
has been a spectacularly bizarre year; I won’t be sad to see it end. For most
of us, it has felt like being churned in a cement mixer. Half the time we are
upside down and crashing hard to the floor. Almost all of us have lost someone
we know to this disease called Covid-19, and there is no end in sight. I’ve
heard the word “unprecedented” used more times in the last eight months than in
the rest of my life put together. Just as with our gardens, it is time to rest.
You may
be thinking all we have done for seven months is rest—our jobs, our schools,
our churches, our restaurants, our gyms, all closed and shuttered. We may have
increased our free-form exercise routines of walking, biking, or jogging, but for
the most part, we have not gained the health benefits simply because anxiety
has cancelled them out. Our mental health has suffered greatly.
Today
is sabbath—time to rest from our labors. We can spend it watching football, or reading
a book, or appreciating the last sunny days of late summer, or taking a long,
long nap. Whatever rests your soul and calms your spirit is the right thing to
do. The seasons provide a model for gradual change. If we can settle in, and
allow ourselves to slow down, we will be in step earth’s rhythms. Refresh your
soul today—and be sure to check out the Harvest Moon tonight.
In
the Spirit,
Jane
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