In my office the other day, two church members asked about the boat on my table. I told them it was a gift from a seminary classmate, a reminder of the work and teaching of our professor, Kirk Jones, author of Rest in the Storm: Self-Care Strategies for Clergy and other Caregivers. He always reminded us that Jesus went to the back of the boat and took a nap.WOW! Here's one I can relate to!
Not surprisingly, I could not find an image of Jesus resting. Preaching from the boat, yes. Calming the storm, yes. Walking on water? Oh, my, yes! But no one seems to want to picture Jesus taking his rest.
In this week that looks unlikely to hold a complete day off, I am pondering renewal. List four ways you like to relax or give yourself a break. Then name a fifth, something you've never been able to do, a self-care dream.
Four ways I like to relax or give myself a break:
- READ READ READ - but not textbooks, articles in a "scholarly, peer-reviewed journal" (gag me!) or anything that remotely relates to writing a paper. Or a sermon. Call it what you want - poetry, fantasy or biography - it's "brain candy" that takes me someplace else, if only for a few minutes!
- Photography. Occasionally I feel like I have a good lens on the world. At the moment, my camera needs repair, so I don't have an outlet for this one.
- Music. At my piano, just tickling the ivories. Preferably with no one in the house so that I can play and sing without feeling like I have more than an "Audience of One."
- The Ultimate Chill Pill: Hammock. Ice Tea. Ceiling Fan. Birds singing. (But NOT in January!)
Oh please. If there is someone who is looking for a worthy cause and would fund it - a maid or a house cleaner or whatever is PC these days! Someone to pick up and do the things that I look around and see when I am studying or trying to relax. You know - the "chores" that I never get to and probably have my great-grandmother spinning in her grave. This more than anything makes it hard for me to chill out at home.
I haven't figured out how to put that last one on my wish list on Froogle or Amazon, though...
From our chaos to yours...
Deb
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14 comments:
I hear ya about the cleaning gig...
It's verrrry unsettling to me to work in clutter. BUT NOBODY ELSE AT MY HOUSE CARES!!!
I LOVE your thing about an Audience of One. I hope to have a piano in our next house so I can relearn and play & sing to my heart's contentment. Right now it's just me & Red, my guitar, usually in an empty house but sometimes with an audience of two (Beloved & AJ).
so glad you added the not in January bit- a hammock outdoors right now brrrrrr!
well played.
Good idea about someone to help with the housecleaning!
Oooh, I can totally get into your list.
The housecleaning one is great. I need that too.
Oh, photography! I don't take many photos, but that reminds me I need to find time to draw. It's been ages, don't even know where to find my pencils.
Ahhh, yes. Iced tea and a hammock, or at least outdoors...are we getting cabin fevor? Good list...with four humans, two dogs, two cats, and one bird, my house needs someone to care for it ('cuz none of us really do, even though I really like a CLEAN house, and don't even mind doing it, it just rarely makes it to the top of my list...)
Wait, houses are meant to be cleaned?????
Crap, something else that needs doing--maybe I should rethink my opposition to child labour, or are 2 & 3 still too young????? :)
Alternative to hammock in January: Rocking chair, hot chocolate, fireplace. Thanks for sharing!
Wish I had thought of the maid part.
However, I know what you mean about the music. I am selfish like that too. I love to listen to music without someone making a comment on it whether they like it or not -- I want it to myself and if I want to sing it from the mountaintops..well so be it
Hey Deb! You and virtually everyone else is convincing me (almost have convinced me) I need to spend far more time listening to music and making music. A couple months ago I started a new blog for my piano repertoire, trying to inspire myself but inspiritaion has not happened. Oh, great play, and many heartfelt condolences regarding the blog right above this one.
Oh my! We had a housekeeper for just a brief while in our life. She was great, it was heaven. Then there was this "call" business and it seemed irresponsible when we needed to be saving money for seminary...but ahhhhhh the good old days. I can't work in clutter either.
I'm with you on the reading. I must have read nearly 10 books over the 44 days between semesters, and not one had anything to do with school. It was GREAT.
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