I'm very tired today (sat up way too late last night, exalting with HS) so this is a lovely exercise to do, while I muster my resources. Thanks to Songbird for the impetus to reflect on what refreshesI am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:19, NRSV As we near the end of the long journey toward Easter, a busy time for pastors and layfolk alike, I ponder the words of Isaiah and the relief and refreshment of a river in the desert. For this Friday Five, name five practices, activities, people or _____ (feel free to fill in something I may be forgetting) that for you are rivers in the desert.
1. Music - obvious, but the most constantly restoring thing I know. As I type, I'm listening to the CD that HS gave me for Mothering Sunday - Samuel Barber Violin Concerto, Piano Concerto and (of course) the Adagio for Strings. I can feel the exhaustion slipping from me. Listening to music in a deep and bubbly bath, with a drink at hand refines the process still further - but maybe I'm being too demanding! If energy levels are better, then music-making myself is yet more restorative,- though the reality of my performance may not always satisfy me, the very act (particularly of singing) makes an enormous difference.
2. Fresh flowers. If I'm having a wearing week, then a bunch of daffodils in the sitting room lifts everything.
3. Walking with the dogs on the hills around Cheltenham, or better still by water - best of all, the sea. It's perfect with someone with whom I can be silent , or on my own. Even manic extroverts need this. It doesn't mean I'm sad or sulking!
4. Hugs from people I love (ideally from one of my children....at 6ft, HS does a particularly satisfying version but I'll take any that are offered, and feel so much healthier as a result)
5. Those friends who are best at distentangling me and restoring my
perspective. You know who you are,- I hope you also know how often
your words and presence bless and transform me.
What a lovely Five you've written! Just reading it provides refreshment.
ReplyDeleteYes, all those things..and I remember the first time I heard Barber's Adagio for Strings on the Radio..it was years and years ago when the children were small, and I was ironing..and I simply stood still, transfixed, and consumed. And there is nothing, just nothing like a vase of daffodils to make me smile inside.... lvoe you xxx
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