Time to Rest and Stop

Stop for one whole day every week, and you will remember what it means to be created in the image of God, who rested on the seventh day not from weariness but from complete freedom. The clear promise is that those who rest like God find themselves free like God, no longer slaves to the thousand compulsions that send others rushing toward their graves. - Barbara Brown Taylor, from her book Leaving Church

Late Thursday morning, a friend and I took off for an overnighter down at the coast. It always seems a bit hectic just before going, as I seem to toss a few things into the bag and be on my way, and having to make sure some of the other tasks that have to continue still have to be set up for Mom.

For the next 24 hours, my obligations to the real world had stopped. We got into the car and headed out. It had been a while since I had visited this section of the beach, as the stomping grounds where I like to go is about an hour or so east of where we were heading. It had been long enough that even though I THOUGHT I didn't  need directions, I did have to call my son twice to jog the memory a bit.

We got there a bit early so had to wait for our room. The weather had been glorious until the day we got there and it was apparent that rain was imminent. And rain it did. Lots of rain. Wind. And the what was the warmth of spring that makes us ever hopeful for summer left the scene just enough for there to be a slight chill in the air. There would be no sitting out to soak up a little warmth and sunshine.

It's nice to go with a friend where there is the comfort of knowing that we can talk and laugh, and on the flip side, we can go an hour and remain silent and totally be at ease. And that is how our trip was, easy going, restful, and free.

Sleep did not elude either of us as sometimes being in a different bed. To sleep late is a luxury and that, too, was granted. No alarm clock or obligation in which to answer.

As we left, we headed east to a more familiar location where the sleepy fishing village has found its niche in attracting shoppers to funky shops and some great seafood cuisine. We made our contributions to improve the economy at the local shops as we found a few items to take home with us.  I actually found a lamp for the bedroom which has a built in night light in addition to it being a regular lamp. How cool is that??? It is now in one of our bedrooms.

We drove home going the way of the millions of pine trees, giggling at the names of the "towns" that had one or two houses, wondering where the names originated and why. "Clio", "Central City", "Wilma" - why were they named when there appeared to be no one there?

It was a nice restful 24ish hours to get away. It is reviving and something I should "work on" doing more often, especially when I get the feeling of being on the hamster wheel for too long.