I have to admit, I almost posted this, just this, on Thursday, because it expresses the option I wanted to take, right then—so much! So tired, thinking I’d really bit off more than I could chew this time…
But as yesterday’s post explained, I have been so fortunate as to be able to attend a silent retreat over this weekend. (So this post is pre-written and scheduled for publication today.) And the first thing I have probably already done at that retreat is… sleep!
That might seem like a waste of time and travel, but “listen” to what Ruth Haley Barton says in her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence:
“Whether like Elijah you have been driven into solitude by desperation or… you have entered more willingly, you may be surprised by what happens once you get to a place of silence. You may fall asleep while trying to pray. You may find yourself longing to curl up under a blanket and rest, and you try hard to resist your body’s need… {But…]
“Like Elijah, I was too tired and worn out to find God–or anything else for that matter… During solitude I fought feelings of exhaustion by attempting to do something that felt ‘productive’ like reading my Bible, journaling or meditating on some very profound thought.
“Eventually Elijah’s story invited me to stop fighting my exhaustion and surrender to it in God’s presence…
“Fatigue and depletion may be the first thing you need to attend to as well… Perhaps the most spiritual thing we could do is get more rest so we are alert when we want to be alert. But we can also use our times of solitude as opportunities to rest in God.”
I hope that both you and I can get the rest we need this weekend, and rest in God today. That, after all, is what Sabbath is for.
Happy Sabbath!
More borrowed wisdom about the value of silence tomorrow.
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I love the quote and it is so good. Sometimes all we need to do is sleep and get some real rest. Our women’s group is planning a similar retreat soon. Just resting in Jesus
Oh, that’s wonderful, Hazel! Prayers for your and your group to have a beautiful and meaningful retreat. “Just” resting in Jesus… but really, that’s everything, isn’t it?
Resting in Him…I like that idea. Good sleep is a blessing!
Yeah, Lynn. Sometimes I like that idea with a great intensity. 😉 And sometimes it’s scary.
At the retreat there was this swing like a big heavy rope net attached to a circle. It was wet when I approached it, so didn’t try it out, but others who did experienced a wide range of happenings and responses. I think in all of them there was first of all an at least momentary sense of loss of personal control. You were off the ground, you couldn’t do much to maneuver the thing; the best you could do was lie back into it and let go of your struggling. Like learning to swim? A great picture of resting in Him, huh?