Breaks

Breaks are always a bit strange to me.  I find that one doesn’t really how much you need one until you take one.  The vicious circle lies in taking the initiative to take the break.  There’s always something to be done!  If not an objective, then it is a deadline.  If not a deadline, then it is a meeting.  The chain is endless; something or another always demands on attention, time, and thought.  It is as if everything around us is trying to take the life we seek away from us.  Everyone needs time to recharge their batteries, if only to pursue the unattainable.
 
I find myself taking a break in California.  The combination of being at home, hanging out with Cherry and Whitney, and just relaxing is extremely tiring!  I find myself catching up on sleep, rest, peace, thinking, and just being.  I know I am safe, so everything is possible.  I wonder why I haven’t done this sooner and more often.  I know much of the feeling is simply a state of mind yet it is being with family that makes all the difference.  The sense of belonging, accepted, and loved just for who I am is wonderful. 
 
I wonder what it would be like if I could can this experience and give it away to anyone willing to accept.  As I think about it, taking in other experiences friends have had, I find myself rediscovering that in moving beyond the busyness of life, shedding the frustrations that naturally come day to day, and even abandoning the need to achieve.  It is in the moment when “it's over, the whole earth [is] quietly at rest.  [Now I can] Burst into song! Make the rafters ring!” (Isaiah 14.7) 
 
I’d invite you to join me in this space, at least metaphorically.  Take time to smell the flowers along the path.  Enjoy the dawn, revel in the sunset, and treasure each ray of sunshine or raindrop.  Each in its own right is God’s gift for you and me.  Divinity’s invitation to just “be” is open to all.