I came across a blog post recently (http://beautythatmoves.typepad.com/beauty_that_moves/) and was intrigued by her offer of an online month-long retreat of sorts. It’s called Hibernate and is a forum for sharing home-based indoor – she lives in Maine, afterall – restorative activities throughout the month of January. Yes, I realize it’s a bit late to be telling you all this now. Sorry about that.
Amidst studying, hospital visits, reading and a brief beachside stay in Tofino, I am finding rest in hibernation mode. I long to live more quietly, listening beyond what people say, listening beyond the weather report and growing attentive to the world in which I find myself. There are things – thinking kinds of things – that I have taken for granted without even knowing it and now as a professional learner (yes, I will likely be in school for quite some time) those ideas are being de-constructed to reveal truth where I have believed a lie, or at least a version of someone else’s truth that has become my own without my permission. How does that happen?
Taking time away from the tyranny of the urgent to create contemplative habits that bring a peaceful presence to others in our harried world is helped by simply being quiet and cozy amidst candles and wine. But true rest comes by growing in awareness that this world is ever-so-much bigger than my ideas. Learning has not meant that everything is tossed into the air for review but a lot is. The thing that anchors it all is God’s immense and generous love. Wide, broad, deep and high. Beyond any of my small ideas that have attempted to contain Him.
De-construction can be terrifying. Many lose their faith in the process. But I have found it strangely comforting and therein, the rest is beautiful.
