Respite

Stretching in front of me are four days of doing just as I please. I have accountability to no one but myself. I am on retreat. I have a beautiful, serene lake view. I have good food and better wine. I have music and the company of two dogs who think I’m awesome.

I don’t have to be anywhere or do anything. No chores to do, no errands to run, I do not have to make my bed. No schedule whatsoever; no bedtime, no alarm clock. I can have chocolate for breakfast if I choose. And I just may as it would be a perfect accompaniment to the mocha coffee I’m having because I’m not sharing the pot with someone who dislikes flavored coffee.

I can sit on the deck and stare at the lake for as long as I want. I can be still and do absolutely nothing. I can breath. I can be thankful. I can let my mind wander. I can daydream. I can just be. There is a beauty to doing nothing. We all need it. There is something sacred about it. We must be still to hear the whisper of our soul. I am still.

Is it a coincidence that I have this quote by Thomas Merton just inside the door of my lake house?

“Some of us need to discover that we will not begin to live more fully until we have the courage to do and see and taste and experience much less than usual… There are times, then, when in order to keep ourselves in existence at all we simply have to sit back for a while and do nothing. And for a man who has let himself be drawn completely out of himself by this activity, nothing is more difficult than to sit still and rest, doing nothing at all. The very act of resting is the hardest and most courageous act he can perform.”