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Posts tagged ‘Rest’

Sunday-ing

“Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life.”― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

“We live in a culture that celebrates activity. We collapse our sense of who we are into what we do for a living. The public performance of busyness is how we demonstrate to one another that we are important. The more people see us as tired, exhausted, over-stretched, the more they think we must be somehow … indispensable. That we matter.”― Joan Halifax, Standing at the Edge: Finding Freedom Where Fear and Courage Meet

One day of seven.
An invitation to rest, to not doing, to not produce.
To set aside efficiency.
A rejection of busy and of the worshipped “to do” list.
To quiet.
To be still.
To wander.
To enter Kairos time rather than Chronos time.
Off the watch into the moment, deep time, flow.
To listen in the slowness.
To ask rather than answer.
To unknow and rediscover.
Counter cultural.
Radical.
Be radical.
Enter Sabbath rest.
Let Sunday do it’s work in you.

“The Hebrew word Shabbat means ‘to stop.’ But it can also be translated ‘to delight.’ It has this dual idea of stopping and also of joying in God and our lives in his world. The Sabbath is an entire day set aside to follow God’s example, to stop and delight.”― John Mark Comer, The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry: How to Stay Emotionally Healthy and Spiritually Alive in the Chaos of the Modern World

Slowing to a New World

“Rest is not idleness, and to lie sometimes on the grass under trees on a summer’s day, listening to the murmur of the water, or watching the clouds float across the sky, is by no means a waste of time.” – John Lubbock

“As you slow down, you instantly enter into a brand new world.”― Hiral Nagda

Slow down to see the immensity of the sky.
The endless colors of nature.
The soft whisper of your own voice awaiting to be heard and heeded.
In the slowing, we witness and partake.
The immediate satisfaction of checking transactions off the list is fleeting and hollow.
That longing that remains is an invitation to slownness, pause, and reflection.
Gratitude and awe foster wonder and praise.
It’s a big world in and out.
Slow down and enter a brand new place right in front of you.

“Drink life one sip at a time. This moment is brand new. Let it pour its newness into you.”― Hiral Nagda

Pastures to Rest

“Even when there are a thousand things to do, cherish these unrushed moments. Make room in your heart for them. There will be many mountains to climb, but always make time to find the pastures where you can rest.”― Morgan Harper Nichols, All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living

“Were we really meant to rush with all abandon toward some earthly hilltop finish line? Or was God telling us something in those whispers to “be still,” that all along, it was necessary, to slow down, trust, and heal.”― Morgan Harper Nichols, All Along You Were Blooming: Thoughts for Boundless Living

Give yourself permission and space to rest.
Margins to play, to laugh, to explore.
Unrushed, slow easy time.
Every single day, weave wonder, awe and delight throughout.
Grace to immerse into the beauty and unfolding.
Pastures to rest.
To have joy take hold, to remain.

“And in those moments where the sun is setting and the house is quiet and you are weary from the day, may you know that there is grace for you in that space, and no amount of heaviness or loneliness can take that away. And because of that grace, you are free to slow down. You are free to breathe and rest, no matter the things not sorted out. There might be some mystery here and there might be longing, wondering, and waiting. But there will also be boundless peace that goes beyond any understanding, running wild like a river through everything, no matter how heavy these moments feel. So rest easy, when everything is approaching. Tomorrow is surely coming, but in the hours in between, you are free to rest till then.”― Morgan Harper Nichols

Unencumbered

“Silence is the language of Om. We need silence to be able to reach our Self. Both internal and external silence is very important to feel the presence of that supreme Love.”― Amit Ray, Om Chanting and Meditation

“Our humanity comes to its fullest bloom in giving. We become beautiful people when we give whatever we can give: a smile, a handshake, a kiss, an embrace, a word of love, a present, a part of our life…all of our life.”― Henri J.M. Nouwen, Life of the Beloved: Spiritual Living in a Secular World

May you give your mind a rest,
Your joints a stretch to loosen the concrete,
Exercise your face with a smile,
Expand your lungs with laughter,
Open your ears with silence,
Guiding and harnessing your energy, outlook, thoughts,
Unencumbered, untethered, unfolding into this day,
With joy, awe and wonder in your toolbox,
“Reality” will still be there when you return, but you will have changed.

“It is simply sitting silently, witnessing the thoughts, passing before you. Just witnessing, not interfering not even judging, because the moment you judge you have lost the pure witness. The moment you say “this is good, this is bad,” you have already jumped onto the thought process.

It takes a little time to create a gap between the witness and the mind. Once the gap is there, you are in for a great surprise, that you are not the mind, that you are the witness, a watcher.” – Osho

Deep Breath, Repeat

“Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence.”― Henry David Thoreau

“You were not just born to center your entire existence on work and labor. You were born to heal, to grow, to be of service to yourself and community, to practice, to experiment, to create, to have space, to dream, and to connect.”― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

You need not travel a thousand miles.
Nor attain more speed.
A slowing, a pause.
Deep breath, repeat.
In this space and place, a journey within.
Unplug, unwind, undo.
Rest, restore, reimagine.
Let quiet, reflection, observation do their work in you each day.
From doing to being.
Sit here a while.
With love and reverence.
Holy, fertile ground.

“Treating each other and ourselves with care isn’t a luxury, but an absolute necessity if we’re going to thrive. Resting isn’t an afterthought, but a basic part of being human.”― Tricia Hersey, Rest Is Resistance: A Manifesto

Come, Sit for a While

“Happiness is a butterfly, which when pursued, is always just beyond your grasp, but which, if you will sit down quietly, may alight upon you.” – Nathaniel Hawthorne

“Anybody can observe the Sabbath, but making it holy surely takes the rest of the week.” – Alice Walker

For so long
Day after day
Running fast and furious
Checking the box
New list, new boxes
Task after task
Problem solved, another takes its place
Transactional living

For who?
For what?
Why?
To What end?
Ask the questions
Inventory what stays and what must go and then release it

Money
Power
Ego
Legacy
Expectations and assumptions
Quantity over quality
Examine how time is being spent or given

On sabbath, God’s day, He calls us to rest as He did after 6 days creating the world
The Author of Life, asks us to pause
To ask the questions, to listen, to pull off the racetrack to rest, nothing to check off, no problem to solve, to just be so we can carry Sunday into the week

God chases us as we chase everything and everyone but Him
Patiently, lovingly, mercifully, gracefully, generously
He chases, calls and waits for us to see Him in the threads of ordinary moments, always present, whispering, “Come, sit for a while”

You have earned your rest
There is nowhere to go
Nowhere to be than right now
On a bench, taking in the depth and beauty of this very moment
Sunday was created to linger, to laugh, to lounge, to live so the rest of the week makes sense and is lived on purpose, gratefully and with intent, not accidentally

Right here, right now.
Come, sit for a while.

“If you keep the Sabbath, you start to see creation not as somewhere to get away from your ordinary life, but a place to frame an attentiveness to your life.” – Eugene H. Peterson

Enough

Coming home yesterday after working twelve days in a row, I continued the frantic pace into the evening. Checking email, reviewing and adding to my to do list. And in a quiet moment one word came to mind shouting -ENOUGH! We push ourselves to the wall and continue to push and push. More, more, more. Juggle, multi-task, go faster, do more. ENOUGH. Time to slow down and rest.

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