JanTerm - A Time of Rest

More than any other time I can remember since high school, I have experienced a time of rest, Sabbath, and peace during JanTerm. The only class I have been taking has been a PE class from 10 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Besides that, I have been able to experience true community and fellowship between myself and two of my friends and have been able to rejuvinate my heart and soul through sleep, reading, silence, friendship, many cups of coffee, and reflection. Here are some of my favorite selections taken from the books I have read this month:

From "A Severe Mercy" by Sheldon Vanauken

p. 203 - "... the clock is not always ticking. Sometimes it stops and then we are happiest. Sometimes - more precisely, some-not-times - we find 'the still point of the turning world'. All our most lovely moments are perhaps timeless."

p. 203-204 - "... the longing for eternity is built-in to us all ... If, indeed we all have a kind of appetite for eternity, we have allowed ourselves to be caught up in a society that frustrate our longing at every turn."

From "The Rest of God" by Mark Buchanan

p. 2-3- "God gave us the gift of Sabbath - not just as a day, but as an orientation, a way of seeing and knowing."

p. 50 - "Maybe that's the problem: you think he [God] wants your attention in order for you to do something. Maybe he just wants your attention."

p. 76 - "Sabbath-keeping is more than time management. It is a fresh orientation to time, where we think with holy imagination about how the arc of our moments and hours and days intersects with eternity."

As I contemplate the concept of Sabbath and rest I keep coming back to some of these ideas. Ideas regarding time, eternity, awareness, attention, purpose, etc. My life needs these considerations. My life needs change. My life needs to be more aware and attentive and less bound to a watch and schedule. My life needs to be more available - for interruptions, for others, for God. Do I know how to do that? Absolutely not. But if ever I've purposed to figure something out, it is this. My life depends on it.