Winter's Rest

I love every season. Right now, I like the winter. I find that we hunker down and rest a bit more and our minds become more contemplative, more receptive to the needs of our body and the body of the world at large. I think we all need this time of slowing down. Rest. But most citizens of this country don't have seasonal cycles anymore as their occupations are no longer tied to the land. I think this hurts us all. We, as a culture, as a people become more and more wound up until things begin to burst. Like the horrible incident in Arizona. Hate and craziness bursting out of a vessel that probably hadn't rested in a long time.

The Bible talks of a weekly Sabbath rest for man and every 7 years the land should be rested and all debts forgiven. I don't think this is just idle myth or tradition. I think that mankind could use more rest and restoration. I know that I need it.

Mark and I are on day 9 of a 10 day fast. We have been withholding food to let our bodies cleanse. This has not been easy. At times my body screamed out with hunger pangs. I didn't know if I could hold up to the onslaught of need, but I learned to just wait it out. To just rest and to pray for others who really are starving in the world. As time has gone by the urgency has eased and I have slept better than I have all year. My allergies and asthma has abated. My body is unwinding, it is healing. I am resting.


I feel a bit like the winter trees stripped of their finery. Their bare bones stand in stark contrast to the blue of the sky and to the solidity of the ground they are rooted in. To an unknowing eye they appear dead, but we know they are only resting. When the time is right they will burst forth in a glory of green and the cycle will be reborn.