REST.
Intermission. Stillness. Calm.
The list in the thesaurus continues with a dozen synonyms.
A few days ago I visited a local park. Up to now we’ve had a mild, dry winter. The leaves still crunched under my sneakers when I left the paved trail. The sound of traffic was muted, other humans out of sight and sound. The woods followed an internal cycle, dropped their leaves and pretensions to gather strength for the spring sure to follow.
Popular magazines and news reports proclaim America as a sleep-deprived nation. And then the next advertisement urges us to buy more, travel more, do more.
We would do well – as individuals and a nation – to take a lesson from the woods. A little time each day, each season, to rest. Pause. Listen to God. Gather and organize our energy for the next necessary task.
