As my word for 2020 is “rest,” I am taking that quite literally. Rest doesn’t always mean napping, twiddling my thumbs and sitting on the couch. Let me suggest recreation as the best form of “rest.” When we create, we feed our imagination and stifle worries and unhappy thoughts.
Last week my rest came in the form of recreation last week. You know— playing. I created a mug in a ceramics class. Amazing to fashion something from a wet piece of gray clay. Our small group laughed at our novice efforts to make something useful as we got to know each other better. What a fun morning. Now to find out if it will hold water or leak.
It’s the same with stories. I love stories. I can put myself in another world and enjoy it, kind of like a mini vacation. Reading and writing refreshes my spirit.
God created our minds and they are amazing. In Psalm 139:14 says, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Let me encourage you to do something fun this week that feeds your whimsical side and helps you to become more creative. That’s my kind of rest.
What do you do for rest? What refreshes your spirit? I’d love to hear from you.
Liz Bond says
What give me rest in this pandemic that refreshes me is hiking in the mountains of Colorado. Every sense is impacted. The sense of smell; sap running in the trees. One smells like butterscotch and the other evergreen. The sense of seeing the beauty around us God created; bugs living life, snow capped mountains. The sense of hearing; birds twittering and flying nearby, gentle breezes rustling the leaves, woodpeckers gathering their food, musical tinkling of rocks under your feet. The sense of touch; tickling of aspen leaves on your hands, roots of trees for grip holds, cool earth under tall pines and aspens, sticky sap on your hands. The sense of taste; only pure filtered mountain water or dirt on hands when eating your “lunch or snack.
Carol Stratton says
Hi Liz! Thank you for your beautiful description of what refreshes you. I can almost picture standing in the Colorado mountains. Thank you for sharing.