New Season, New Day
This Labour Day was as hot and sultry as high summer. But a row of yellow school buses, shiny and clean, with numbers prominently displayed on their front windows; stood on a nearby parking lot; their seats waiting to welcome a whole new season's batch of young students. They signaled the reality that no summer lasts forever.
In the shade of a magnolia tree, I sat on our small north easterly deck, listening to the chatter of leaves in the soft breeze, and smiling at the irony that Labour Day, being a holiday, gave me permission to do nothing at all.
This morning I did it--nothing, that is. I simply leaned back into my bright blue resin Adirondack chair and thought for a while, as the cars on the nearby highway zoomed by as in another world.
For me, this Labour Day is the first in 41 years that doesn't precede a paid work day. I have the freedom to choose how I spend my time and haven't stopped thanking God for that privilege several times each day.
The past year has been intense and busy. So much so that I found I couldn't write, even though there was so much to write about. I had little energy, let alone time, so I surrendered and focused instead on surviving with Paul the stress of his heart attack; trying to "end well," at a career I loved; and fulfilling a dream to travel to Europe with three teenage granddaughters.
And here I am at last, having caught my breath, embarking on a whole new adventure that feels like "school let out" and "back to school" all at once!
I have time for investing in relationships in a deeper way; to develop the craft of writing and greater skill in photography; time for building spiritual muscle; to pray; to exercise my physical body; to read; to have space for God's agenda.
None of us knows just how much time we have, but it feels like the greatest of riches to have more as I start this new life chapter. And I am so grateful to have broken the writing ice at last!
In the shade of a magnolia tree, I sat on our small north easterly deck, listening to the chatter of leaves in the soft breeze, and smiling at the irony that Labour Day, being a holiday, gave me permission to do nothing at all.
This morning I did it--nothing, that is. I simply leaned back into my bright blue resin Adirondack chair and thought for a while, as the cars on the nearby highway zoomed by as in another world.
For me, this Labour Day is the first in 41 years that doesn't precede a paid work day. I have the freedom to choose how I spend my time and haven't stopped thanking God for that privilege several times each day.
The past year has been intense and busy. So much so that I found I couldn't write, even though there was so much to write about. I had little energy, let alone time, so I surrendered and focused instead on surviving with Paul the stress of his heart attack; trying to "end well," at a career I loved; and fulfilling a dream to travel to Europe with three teenage granddaughters.
And here I am at last, having caught my breath, embarking on a whole new adventure that feels like "school let out" and "back to school" all at once!
None of us knows just how much time we have, but it feels like the greatest of riches to have more as I start this new life chapter. And I am so grateful to have broken the writing ice at last!
Comments
Look forward to your sharing as often as you feel led - no more nagging :-)
Deborah