Preparing for "Holy Leisure"

HOLY  +  LEISURE    =     "Holy Leisure"                       

 

Jeremiah 29:11:

"For I know the plans I have for you" declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, 

plans to give you hope and a future."

This verse is a special one for me. It has meant different things at different times, as the Lord has used it to calm and encourage my heart.

He used this verse:
-in a season of singleness which got especially hard after turning 30 and the Lord had not yet shown me if I would find the one to marry (which I did shortly after).
-in my wedding; I put the verse on our wedding invitation as a reminder of His promise as I was entering the covenant of marriage and all that would bring.
-during the darkest time of my life; postpartum psychosis, depression and severe anxiety. The verse was something I held onto when darkness was smothering me and I literally felt hopeless and beyond despair.
-even now as a reminder of His ongoing love which carries me through all the life circumstances I will face.

When I sat down today, I didn't have any idea I'd be writing about that verse. I was thinking about preparing my heart for an upcoming vacation; a time I've scheduled for rest away from the busyness of my life. I'm glad the verse came to my mind, since I do want to prepare my heart. The last several months have been challenging and at times overwhelming. It started when my husband entered a depression that quickly became severe and led to him spending time in the hospital. It was so hard bringing my son there and then we'd have to leave without daddy and my son would just cry saying "Why can't daddy come home?" All I could tell him was that daddy needed special care from the doctors at the hospital. Just before this happened, I had accepted a leadership position in my mom's group at church. Our Titus mom's group has over 100 moms and my training had just started. I had also been asked to be the administrator for a "Lotsa Helping Hands" network for a dear family at our church. (Lotsa Helping Hands is a website where you can schedule caregiving when someone is in need.) For this family, I was responsible for putting things on the calendar (like cleaning, meals, groceries) and maintaining the website for the community of volunteers. My husband was brought through his depression, by God's grace, yet I continued serving in these other areas through this fall. It has only been in the last week I've received some extra help which has been a welcome relief. And if that wasn't enough, last month I was diagnosed with an irregular heart beat, (premature ventricular contraction); basically heart palpitations. Thankfully, the heart beat problem is not symptomatic as it's mainly from stress and not a concern for the doctor other than annoying for me at times. In light of this, I have sensed a deep need to take some time away; especially around this Thanksgiving holiday for reflection, renewal and relaxation.

With all that in mind, my son and I will leave Thursday afternoon for a 10-day vacation down at my sister's home a few hours south of where I live. Staying at her home is like being at a resort with its many rooms, spiral staircase and birds and wild life. I look forward to the simple joy of having no agenda; from enjoying a morning cup of coffee while just watching the birds come to feed, or packing my son in the back pack and heading off for some adventure at the nearby wildlife rehab center. I will have a full week of Otium Sanctum, "holy leisure" leading up to Thanksgiving day when my husband will join us for the holiday weekend. I just read about "holy leisure" in a book called "Celebration of Discipline" by Richard J. Foster. He describes it as a sense of balance in the life, an ability to be at peace through the activities of the day, an ability to rest and take time to enjoy beauty, an ability to pace ourselves.

I'm looking forward to training myself in this way of holy leisure; to rest in Him as I go about each day. I am glad for an extended period of time like this where I can disconnect from projects and commitments and just enjoy some time away. It is truly a blessing to me.

I had all kinds of things I could have written about today; from preschool units of dinosaurs and pumpkins to beautiful fall pictures from a few days we had in the North Woods in September, but right now my computer is actually "in the shop". I'm glad I ended up with no access to the pictures I would have used to put those posts together and instead came up with this one. I'm also glad the Lord is preparing my heart for this getaway; a getaway from worldly things that bog down and a time of drawing nearer to Him, the Source of Life.

Thank you for visiting! I hope to post again soon.

Returning Refreshed

We had a really nice Easter vacation spending time with my dad "Boppy" and step mom, "Mimi" (what the kids call them). It was so nice to go back "home" to Illinois, to the suburb of Chicago (Palos Park) where I grew up. It is so peaceful, an area filled with forest preserves and lots and lots of old, old trees. My favorite are the old oak trees scattered throughout.


The days went by fast, but they were well spent. Easter dinner with the extended family was just lovely as my southern step-mom created an authentic Southern Easter dinner and J had a blast playing with all his cousins. I made a couple of my recipes during the week, Tray Baked Chicken and Papa's Goulash which my dad and Debbie (and J) really enjoyed. I was able to catch up with a couple of my good friends from childhood and they got to spend some time with J.


I would have to say that my most favorite part of the trip was my daily walks while J was napping. I was able to leave the house while Boppy and Mimi kept watch. I spent time just drinking in the beauty of the Lord's creation as I explored the familiar area. Taking time to enjoy the sights, sounds and smells drew me closer to God. I took time just gazing in front of the pond that is down the road where a pair of geese have made their home. I loved just listening to the birds and watching the trees sway in the breeze. A couple of my walks were 30 minutes and a couple over 45 minutes. Each walk enabled me to spend quality time in prayer and communion with the Lord out in nature. It was very sweet. It also brought back so many memories of riding my bike up and down the roads and running all over the neighborhood. The houses themselves have changed so much. On each street, several of the old houses have been torn down and immense homes have taken their place. Some look like castles, some look like mountain lodges.




During my walks, it was a treat to see a flock of migrating warblers. They let me come incredibly close and I knew they had to be some type of warbler by their mix of yellow, gray and white colors. After searching the internet, I discovered they were yellow-rumped warblers (first picture). I really enjoyed watching the birds throughout the week, and saw another bird, the white crowned sparrow (second picture), which stopped over at my dad's house. I also enjoyed hearing the birds. The call of the woodpecker, the songs of the robin and the cardinal, the noisy call of the blue jay. My dad's porch was a great place for watching and listening to the birds. It was such a blessing to me.



Another favorite from the week was spending lots of time with J reading books. I didn't have my computer with me and we watched very little TV, so we had lots of time together. I took some time to go through our old kids books in the dank, musty basement and my dad let me take several of them home. They were a wonderful discovery for J, who spent literally hours with me each day, just having me read them to him. He loved this finger play book (picture above) and after having me read it several times, he enjoyed doing the finger play on his own. Frog and Toad are a new favorite.




One of our final treats was making a trip to our little town's ice cream parlor, The Plush Horse, which has been around since 1937. They have a life sized white stuffed horse inside and J was just thrilled to see it. He picked his seat at the cutest little tiny kids table. It was fun taking him to a place his mom used to visit often as a kid. The ice cream is just delicious.

We had plenty of unpacking and settling in to do once we got home, but it's good to be home after having a nice little vacation away.

A passion for gardening

Every day I keep a little notebook where I jot down specific notes on what I'd like to put into the blog for that day. It helps me capture the details that I'd otherwise forget. Well, yesterday and today I took NO notes!!! I guess I'm a slacker! It's been a busy couple days and maybe that's why .... anyhow I'll do my best to recreate the highlights.

Yesterday was my Titus mom's group. It was very cool. We had 3 speakers all covering the subject of things to do with your kids that build character and faith. Two of the three mom's are on staff at our church for the Early Childhood Ministry. They were able to share many things which were helpful and some were things I'm doing which was good reinforcement. One of the most basic ideas is just letting your relationship with the Lord flow in front of your child. Things like praising God for a rainbow or a beautiful day you're enjoying. Thanking God out loud for something nice someone just did for you. Praying aloud for something you are struggling with (which your child has most likely picked up on). Some other ideas were creating faith traditions, using music, kids devotional books and serving with your kids.

We had some play time outside since it was another warm and beautiful day. It was supposed to rain but instead we had brilliant sunshine. After lunch, it was time for our sitter Dave to take over for me and I went to our women's bible study. It was good to get out and have fellowship time with the women in my study. The study itself was good too. I never did such an in-depth study of Mary before. We also took time to pray together which always ministers to me.

When I got home I could tell they had a good time by the amount of toys and books that were scattered around the living room. Then I took Julian on a field trip to our local garden center. To digress a bit, the other day I was out on our patio relaxing and drinking a homemade smoothie in the sun while Julian was napping. It was so nice and I realized it was the first time in a long time I was able to just sit and not have to do anything. But then my mind started going and I was studying my garden to see if there was anything I should add and I decided some creeping phlox for the rock wall would be great. So back to the field trip. We had to stop at two places to get the phlox colors I wanted. Then I ended up picking up the most beautiful flowering plant I think I've ever seen, a purple Columbine. I hemmed and hawed about it because I couldn't picture where I would put it, but it was just so beautiful I couldn't pass it up. Well, when I got home and was looking for a place it dawned on me that the garden is where I buried my cat Rio and the Columbine would be perfect right in that place. I felt like God led me to that plant and He knew the reason why. I was able to get everything planted while Julian was taking his nap. It hit me that I haven't done any gardening since 2007. For the last 10+ years, I've planted some type of garden. It's a way for me to feel close to God. I feel like I get to take part in creation; planting something, watering it and then seeing what God brings to life. I just love digging in the dirt. I got pregnant at the end of 2007 and then in 2008 went through an incredibly long depression. It is so good to get back to it. It was a reminder of God's healing how great it felt gardening and just having the desire to do it again. We have such a tiny yard here at our condo/townhouse but I've been able to do a lot with the space. In addition to the perennials I already have, I'm planting some herbs and in May some tomatoes. Nothing huge, but it'll be fun to get Julian involved. We went to the Y tonight since we usually go Wednesdays but were out to dinner. I continue to stick with the treadmill, walking and jogging mix.

This morning we went to the library for story time where we sang a few songs and they read a few stories to the kids. While we were doing the craft, I ran into a woman I had seen often at our church. Her son is just a few weeks older than Julian. We had a nice conversation and it turns out she's been looking for other groups and may join me at the play group we go to called Pal Zone. That would be fun. After that, we went to the Y so I could get in my 3rd workout which makes this the 2nd week of doing that. Again, I ran into someone I knew. This was a woman who volunteers at our church whose daughter was taking a ballet class at the Y. I had to thank the Lord since I've been desiring for so long to have connections to other moms in the community and I'm seeing how God has answered that prayer.

After lunch, we headed out on a couple errands and one was the grocery store. This was so cute. He was asking to get out of the cart so to keep him with me I asked for his help pushing it. He'd get behind it and push with me and then stop and help me when I was picking something out. He did stray a little at the end while we were checking out so he went back in the cart.

I was able to find a website where I create an Elmo invitation with Julian's pictures on it for his birthday celebration. I'm so glad my sister gave me this idea so I don't have to hand write over 30 invites. They'll print them and I can pick them up at Walgreens. Julian and I headed over there after dinner to pick them up. Before we went in Julian said "Julian walk". He wanted to walk instead of being in the cart so I thought I'd give it a try as I'd done earlier in the day. He ended up doing pretty well staying nearby and listening when I'd tell him he couldn't pick something up. We found a cool pair of sunglasses for him which I've been wanting to get. He always wants to wear mine and often in the backseat he'll have the sun in his eyes. When we got home, he was asking to go outside. It was getting dark and I was going to say no when he said "stars?" He remembered watching the stars the other night so I wanted to encourage that. Right away, he was saying "moon" and pointing to it and I pointed out the few stars that were coming out. It was a little cool, but a very clear night sky. This was daddy's night to put him to bed so after I gave him some goodnight kisses, daddy took over.