I’m taking a break from blogging today to go fishin’. (Figuratively, of course.)
Under-bridge artwork from along the race course of the race I didn’t do last month. If only all bridges could look this fancy underneath.
I hope you’re enjoying your last week of September. I’ll see y’all back here next week!
It may not feel like winter where you are (or where I am, of that matter), but I’m enjoying some time off and playing in this wonderland—snow-covered or not.
I hope you won’t mind me taking a break to enjoy time with family and friends this week. I’ll be back next week to greet the new year with you.
In the meantime, to encourage you to head outside, here’s a photo of someone who loves to play outside, no matter the weather:
My pup with her favorite tennis ball in her favorite kind of weather (from 2014)
Blessings to you at the close of 2015. I’d love to hear how you’re wrapping up the year and ringing in a new one!
Plenty of folks may say you can’t go home again, and I understand what they mean. But I went home to North Carolina for a bit of rest a few weeks ago anyway. Here are some snapshots and brief thoughts of my visit home.
It’s hard to balance the need to rest with the desire to catch up with dear friends and family, and so I ended up not doing as much of either as I had hoped. I am slowly realizing that it may always be this way on the visits home, the pull of the heart to spend time with those I love and the pull of the body to rest and soak up the nature of this beautiful place.
The cows came up to the near pasture on my hike through this most favorite of places:
I always love this view but especially when the field is full of cows.
Fields of gold
I almost missed my chance at taking this hike, so busy hiking and running and walking in other loved places, but if I hadn’t gone, I would have missed the lilies blooming: Continue reading
When I was little, my family made an annual trek to the North Carolina Coast. I would step out of the car and drink in the heavy feel of the humid, salt air and revel in the sounds of cicadas’ deafening buzz. The week ahead promised rest for us all: lazy breakfasts, often concoctions of eggs, cheese and potatoes my brother fried up; piles of books to read; long days at the beach. We would climb dunes, walk the tide’s edge, fall asleep under a beach umbrella, dive for sand dollars, let gentle waves loll us practically to sleep, or high, strong waves quicken our sense of being alive. There was no schedule, no hurry. Nothing but rest and renewal for a glorious week.
I’m more of a mountain girl than a beach girl nowadays, and that’s where the best rest is happening for me. Any good mountain vacation promises hiking, walking and running in familiar, beloved places. The weather is cooler but more humid than our California summer has been so far. My husband and I sit together and read a pile of books (words cannot adequately express my excitement about Go Set a Watchman). We juggle quiet time and visits with family and friends. Most important, we rest.
If you’re looking for a great book about our need for a Sabbath rest, I highly recommend Wayne Muller’s Sabbath: Finding Rest, Renewal, and Delight in Our Busy Lives. In many ways, this book feels like taking a deep, fresh breath. It offers rest and encourages an outlook overhaul:
Sabbath is more than the absence of work; it is not just a day off, when we catch up on television or errands. It is the presence of something that arises when we consecrate a period of time to listen to what is most deeply beautiful, nourishing, or true. It is time consecrated with our attention, our mindfulness, honoring those quiet forces of grace or spirit that sustain and heal us. (8)
How can we better consecrate, honor, savor the blessings in our lives? In this season, are you creating moments that will sustain and heal you? What does Sabbath rest look like to you?
A place that brings me Sabbath rest
I hope y’all won’t mind me taking a vacation day today. I’ll be back next week after some much-needed recharging of the batteries.
I haven’t literally gone fishin’. I went fishing once with my dad when I was little, and despite enjoying the boat ride and the time with him, I didn’t care much for hooking the bait or watching the fish writhe at the end of the hook. My husband also reminded me that I couldn’t literally go fishin’ because I don’t have a fishing license.
So I’ve gone fishin’ figuratively. What are the ways you go fishin’ when you need to unwind and recharge?
The Flourishing Tree 