This week I had a minor surgical procedure. . . nothing to worry about but it afforded me a rare opportunity to kick back and stay put! Also my car is in the shop getting a few repairs done so I am basically "stuck" at home with no plans to go anywhere. Like many of you, I have a very hard time slowing down. I am driven to be moving all the time, from one place to the next, meeting other's expectations (or more precisely meeting what I think are their expectations for me). The past couple of days have been such a respite for me, not only healing for the body but healing for the soul. Often times it takes getting sick for me to slow down. . . and that is not a good thing! It doesn't do me any good, my family any good or the people I serve any good!
So in the past couple of days I had time to figure out a drawing program on my computer that I've had for a couple of years and never had time to master (the picture in this post is something I made from this program- simple I know, but fun!) . . . I have read some pages in a couple of books I haven't had time to get to . . . I took a nap each day (thanks to some pain meds), I visited with a friend in my living room over coffee (she had tea) and I felt the creative juices that sometimes get stifled due to busyness emerge once again inside my soul.
Next week will begin an all out push toward what will not end until May turns into June as track season begins. Along with that is the High School Musical that both of my kids are in which means late night practices. Also there will be a trip to Ohio U for the Regional Spelling Bee thrown in there. All good and wonderful things! But the rushing and running will be a bit overwhelming to be sure. So, for now, I take the remaining few moments that I have of solitude and silence to draw enough energy to get me through Lent, Track and Field Season, Holy Week, Easter, and whatever else decides to beckon my attention. For now, I am resting in the peace and tranquility of God's love. . . his call to a time of sabbath rest. And my heart is joyful, my anxiety is very low, I feel at ease with myself and the world.
Do you think this is why God calls us to take at least one day of rest each week? Do you suppose this is why vacation and time away is so very important? How are you doing at resting? How are you doing at carving out some time for yourself, to simply "be?" How is your level of creativity?
May you find peace and respite in the busyness of life's journey.
Yours,
Amy
By Christina Leigh PritchardGenre: YAPaperback/e-book256 pagesBook Description from Goodreads:Seventeen year old Lisa Brown’s life is falling apart. First, her mother and father divorce, then their house forecloses and now, her mother has decided to commit herself to a psychiatric hospital.If that weren’t enough, she must leave sunny south Florida to attend a boarding school full of geniuses in cold, Lynn, Massachusetts. The city where the locals chant “Lynn, Lynn, city of sin; you never come out the way you went in.”And, they aren’t kidding. Lisa must live in a tiny shack with two strange teenagers, a dog named Pig who growls when you look at him and a cat named Rat. “Mind the cat,” everyone says. What the heck is wrong with this place?Lisa thinks she’s landed in her own house of horrors with the anti-social Alex and his facetious sister Ally. But, the real drama begins the day she is struck by lightning… Excerpt:The Doctor said I should be dead.My heart beat furiously. I looked up at the flashes of lightning in the sky. Yes, I should be dead.Why wasn’t I? 
Check it out: BUY HERE!
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0096UBZ4A