Each year I sit on the runway in Presque Isle, or Bangor and wonder if I’ll make it back again next year?  Will my parents be well enough to come spend the summer again?  Will life encroach and make it harder to find the time to go back? 

This year I did everything on my list that makes Maine, Maine to me.  Fed chicadees out of my hand, caught huge bull frogs, fed the chipmunk out of my hand, letting him sit in my lap.  Watched beautiful birds like the Loon, the Great Blue Heron, gold finches, evening grossbeaks, rose breasted gross beaks, and the list goes on.  I ate all my favorite Maine foods (except lobster).  I had red hotdogs, fiddleheads, beet greens, baby new potatoes right out of the ground, yellow wax beans, petite green beans, cucumbers galore, all freshly picked from the gardens of friends and family…….and then there is Houlton Farms Dairy and it’s delicious “awful awful”.  How did it get it’s name?  It’s awful big and awful good!  It is a thick milkshake with softserve ice cream on top.  I have them add chocolate jimmies to the top of mine.

My husband says Maine has a distinct language.  It’s actually more like a dialect.  I definitely come back speaking the dialect.  Dow!  Ayuh! Wicked Good!  Those are a few of the phrases you’ll hear listening to a Mainer. 

I’m home now, refreshed by the beauty and the quiet of Maine.  My parents are still the only people who live on this small lake in the north woods of Maine.  It’s been that way for 40 years.  No wonder the animals feel free to eat out of my hand.  I can’t wait ’til next year.

Life sometimes seem to spin past us so fast. Our family, career, church, friends all seem to have needs that can consume us. Our involvements and obligations are not often optional. But there comes a point when it can feel a bit overwhelming. We need a rest.The God who made us, who designed our bodies and souls, knew that we would not be able to function non-stop 24-7. That’s why when he laid out the rules for life, the best way to live, he told us to rest. It seem odd that people would have to be commanded to take a day off—until we look in the mirror and realize we don’t obey that command. But just as our bodies need sleep to function, they’re also hard-wired by our creator to need a weekly break. Human beings function best when they take one day out of seven to just stop and rest.Impossible? Not really. Taking one day a week to rest will actually help you to be more efficient, as well as making you happier and more connected spiritually. How do you get there? One step at a time. Here’s ten steps toward making rest a reality in your life.

1.    Assess the current pace of your life: how many things have you said yes to that you should not have? While you cannot off-load your job or your children (as tempting as that may be), are there extra things you have volunteered for that you should not have? If you are a mom, have you signed your kids up for too many activities, so that you spend hours each day driving them around or managing their schedules? Maybe you need to cut back on the things you’re doing during the week, in order to make Sundays a bit less hectic.

2.    Say no. We often say “yes” because we think it is the nicer thing to say, or we don’t want to hurt people’s feelings. But every time you say “yes,” you’ve automatically said “no” to other things—and that sometimes includes being able to have a day to rest. Say no by saying things like,  “I’m not the right person for that job” or “Let me check my schedule and get back to you.” But then, say you simply cannot add anything else to your schedule. And don’t let your kids be in five activities just because they want to. Set loving limits so that they have some downtime.

3.    Delegate. Running a household is a full-time job. Moms who shoulder all of the work of a home by themselves are bound to feel resentment, but also will have trouble taking a day off because there is too much for them to do, especially if they do anything outside of the home (a job, volunteering, caring for an aging parent). If your children can reach the buttons on the washing machine, they should be doing their own laundry. By about third grade, they can pack their own lunches. Get a chore chart and make sure everyone in the house helps with dusting, vacuuming, mopping, dishes and so on. Delegating household chores will allow everyone the time to rest one day a week.

4.    Do a little planning. Some of us are naturally planners, others are more spontaneous. But in order to have a day of rest (in which you can be totally spontaneous) you have to plan ahead. Before Sunday, get the grocery shopping and household chores done (with help from your family!!). Make enough for dinner on Friday and Saturday that you can eat leftovers on Sunday, or stock up on frozen pizza! Clean the house the day before. But if you don’t get everything done, let it go. Just stop, whether you’re fully prepared or not.

5.    Make worship the focus. If we make Sabbath only about us and our need for rest and rejuvenation, we won’t sustain the practice. While Sabbath is a gift, it’s also a day to focus on God. Plan to attend church (working around kid’s sports schedules if need be). Take time during your 24 hours to be grateful. You can do this in private prayer, or have your family share around the dinner table what they were thankful for during the week.

6.    Start small, and build slowly. This Sunday, don’t go for an extreme makeover of your life. Just choose one thing to refrain from—be it laundry, grocery shopping, checking e-mail. And then choose one thing to engage in—maybe reading an inspiring book or taking a walk with a friend. Over the next several weeks, pick one thing each week to add to your Sabbath, and to subtract. Give yourself as many weeks as it takes to slowly build and refine your Sabbath practice.

7.    Sleep! Many of us are sleep-deprived. Why? We’ve said yes to too many things, or we believe way too strongly in our own importance. It may be that the first step toward Sabbath practice in your life is to give yourself the gift of a full night of sleep at least that one night.

8.    Start at sundown. In over 15 years of practicing Sabbath, I have found that following the biblical timeframe for Sabbath works best. So if your Sabbath day is Sunday, it actually begins at sundown on Saturday. At that time, simply stop. Set aside your work, knowing it will be there in 24 hours. Your Sabbath might begin with a meal with friends or family. Take your time, make it leisurely. Have conversation, chew your food, savor the experience. Hang out with the people you love. Then go to bed, get up and go to church, and you’ve already made it through half a Sabbath! If this is all you can manage, that’s a starting point. Sabbath ends, then, as the sun sets on Sunday, which will give you some time to prepare for the week ahead if you need it.

9.    Find your joy. Sabbath rest doesn’t mean sitting around watching the walls. Rather than focusing on what you cannot do, think about what you have freedom from, and what you can do with that freedom. Play is a big part of Sabbath practice:  My husband and I like to go sailing on Sunday afternoons in the summer. We experience joy and praise God for the beauty of his creation when we are on the water. Take a walk or go for a run. Read a book. Call a friend and really listen. Play with your children. Take a nap without feeling guilty. Pray without watching the clock, because there is nowhere else you need to be.

 10.  Lean hard into grace. Like any spiritual practice, Sabbath-keeping won’t always go perfectly. Some weeks will be better  than others. There are times when your best intentions will go up in flames and your attempts to rest will fail. That’s okay. God’s grace is sufficient. Know that you will get a chance to try again next week, and don’t give up! And if it does go well, don’t let yourself get legalistic or proud. This is not something you’re doing to impress God or anyone else. Most of us are longing for rest. We are just so tired. But we never stop. Here’s the thing—no one is going to make you stop. You have to choose to receive the gift of Sabbath. It’s a choice you won’t regret.Keri Wyatt Kent is a speaker and author of seven books, including Rest: Living In Sabbath Simplicity. For more on Sabbath and her ministry, visit www.SabbathSimplicity.com.

It was painful reliving certain memories and writing about difficult things in my past, but I also re-lived God’s grace to me.  Hind sight is such a gift and I enjoyed seeing God’s hand, once again, in my life.  The book is titled “What Women Tell Me: finding freedom from the secrets we keep”.  I weave my story throughout the book and intersperse snippets of emails from women I’ve heard from through my years of hosting Midday Connection. 

I can’t tell you how great it feels to be on the other side of this BIG project.  My prayer is that God will use the book to touch women and draw them closer to Him.

My father had emergency open heart surgery this week and I was able to go and visit and be a support to my mom.  She has recently experienced significant hearing loss.  I thought I was heading to Florida for one reason, and to help care for one person, and I really was going to help care for two people.  I became a translator to my mother.  Repeating all of the Dr.’s and nurses comments to her, not to mention the comments of visiting friends and family.  I had to remain alert to inform my mother when someone came into the room.  People would come and go if she wasn’t actively watching the door.  On a positive note, she gets hearing aids in just a few days.  Thankfully, the day before I return home she’ll be outfitted with her aids.

I will have only participated in 5 days of caregiving before returning home, and I’m exhausted on day 3.  My hat is off to all of the diligent care givers who hang in there for weeks, months, and years.  If you know of someone who is giving long term care to a loved one, if you are able, arrange to give them a much needed break. 

I’m grateful for my limited experience this week.  I’m sure I’ll be called upon to give care again in my life.  I realized for the first time how much the care giver is the advocate for the patient, and if the care giver isn’t present, the pateint doesn’t always receive proper care.  Pray for those care givers you are aware of.  Pray that God gives them strength and energy and puts people in their lives to remind them to care for themselves, and even to help them do that.

I guess I was touched to see someone ‘do the right thing’, even do something scary and way outside their comfort zone. It made me ask myself if I would do the same thing if the need was there.  Would I have the courage to stand up and open my home and change my life like that.  “Blind Side” is based on a true story, which often makes the movie more engaging.  It was definitely a feel good movie, but if you see it, you need to walk out asking questions of yourself and the Christian community you are a part of.  I’d love to hear what you thought of the movie.

I know this verse is specific to Mary, but there is universal truth to apply to us.  If I follow the Bible study method of Howard Hendricks and enter this story using my sacred imagination, God is talking directly to me.  “Blessed is Anita who has believed that the Lord would fulfill his promises to her!”  Do I believe he will fulfill his promises to me?  I’m entering 2010 with great expectation and with Luke 1:45 on my lips.  I don’t even know all of what he will fulfill to me this year, but I walk into the new year in faith and great expectation.  What about you?

“Let all that I am Praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise his holy name.  Let all that I am praise the Lord; may I nver forget the good things he does for me.  He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases.  He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.  He fills my life with good things.  My youth is renewed like the eagle’s!” 

What are you thankful for today?

But, the highlight was none other than SCRABBLE!  It’s one of my moms most favorite games.  It’s never been mine because I haven’t had the time to memorize the dictionary.  Surprise, surprise, I actually won two games.  As I thought about why I wanted to keep playing it, I realized it had nothing to do with winning, I lost more games than I won.  I enjoyed the pace of the game.  In fact the whole pace of my trip to FL was such a refreshing change it was hard to come back to the ‘real’ world.  It’s time for me to pay attention to the discipline of Sabbath, again.  Can’t we ever learn things for good?  No, not how God works…….life is a journey. 

Excuse me, I have to go play a game of scrabble!