Time for a Break

I guess most people look forward to having a break from the mundane round of tasks involved in everyday living.  We anticipate the weekend when we have time to do something different and love planning for holidays and getting away from it all.  We have natural cycles of being awake and needing to sleep.  The body needs time to recoup energy ready to face the next load of activity.  When we are feeling a little unwell, we often find that a day in bed, doing nothing but resting, is as good as taking any medication.  It gives the body a chance to use all its energy in healing rather than in activity.  (I am not of course referring to serious illness - that is quite a different matter.  I refer to when we have an 'off day' or a bit of a cold)

In music, the pause and rest signs are very important and give 'shape' to the sounds we hear.

In the particular piece pictured above, the pause over the rest is poignant.  They come after a part that was gradually getting louder and more forceful.  Everyone is waiting for what comes next - a sense of anticipation and wanting to hear more.  Then the music returns but softly.  What a contrast!  No doubt the whole atmosphere is helped by the use of the paused rest.  It is used for the benefit of the listener.  So pauses and rests are good!

Some years ago (looking back at some photos, I see it's about 20 years ago!) I would go regularly once a year in October to a silent retreat at a monastery in Northumberland.  People who know me questioned at the time that it was possible for me to go 3 days in silence! But it did me SO much good.

As I say it is a monastery owned and run by the Roman Catholic church - called Minsteracres - and a wonderful place for a retreat.  They even had a hermitage in part of the grounds if anyone wanted to use it, where they had no contact with anyone at all, not even at mealtimes.  Special permission had to be granted for this but I just loved to walk in the grounds and see the wildlife - listening to the birds, watching the endangered red squirrels, walking among the giant redwoods - just me and God, without having to make conversation with anyone.  Sheer bliss!  I always returned home renewed and strengthened.  Isaiah reminds us that 'they that wait upon the Lord, shall renew their strength.'  (You can Google Minsteracres Monastery to find out more.)

In many sports there is a time out period when the participants receive a pep talk and encouragement from the coach and go back to the game with renewed determination to win.  That time out gives the body a short time to relax, think about and assess what has gone before and refocus on what now faces them. 

In our busy lives, it isn't always possible to set aside a great deal of time but it is a necessary part of God's plan for our lives and how we were meant to live.  Although God is not governed by time, a time of rest is part of who He is and how He works.  In the creation story we read - and on the seventh day He rested.  It is not only good to have a break - it is necessary for our physical, mental, emotional and spiritual wellbeing.

This post has been about a deliberate and chosen time out.  Next time, I'll write more about a waiting time that is not always of our choosing.