Learning to Rest, Resting to Learn

Well Indian Summer (the Pastor’s retreat) is over and I am back in the Pastor's Study. One of the hardest things for me to do in the ministry is take time to rest. I have never been good at getting away. I check my email and I check my phone messages just to make sure that everything is OK. I wasn’t able to check my email this time and it really was a blessing. Instead of worrying about things I could not do anything about (until I got back to Stillwater), I decided to read and rest. I brought both academic and recreational reading with me. As it turned out, my 4 hours of afternoon free-time was spent equally reading recreationally and taking naps! It is definitely not something I can do all the time, but is was incredibly restful.

This break had me fresh for the discussions during the “work” part of our retreat. I was able to focus and not let my mind wander because I was “fresh.” At night, I had the window open to hear the waves from the Atlantic crashing below me. While the bed was certainly not good for my back, the time spent at the retreat center was most certainly time well spent. The only problem is, I have to wait 12 months to do it again!