I often find that when I take a day “off,” I end up filling the day with other things that need to get done. Saturdays and Sundays, for me, routinely become catch-up days, where I take care of the laundry and the dishes and the unread emails and then get to the end of the weekend feeling unsatisfied: I didn’t play enough, sleep enough, read enough.
I didn’t practice rest.
I am learning and relearning over and over again that on a semi-regular basis I need to completely unplug. Sometimes (okay, most of the time), the only way to do this is by getting out of town: away from the laundry and the dishes and the unread emails. As much as I love being home, home can become a sort of prison when all you do at home is more work.
So it was an easy, easy decision when friends asked us to travel north this last weekend to spend some time away. I thought I might have to miss out because of a cold early in the week, and I am so glad that I did not. My favorite weekends away are weekends away in the fall, and this time, completely unexpectedly, the fall colors in the north woods were absolutely breathtaking.
It is hard to put into words the joy that I felt on Saturday, as we drove around and stopped to look, taking the time to just stare. I can honestly say that I have not felt more whole in a long time. The ability to pause and contemplate creation was exactly what I needed.
What does a restful day look like to you in this season of life?