Rhythms of Rest

In 2017, I received the gift of being able to take my first sabbatical after 10 years in ministry. Right near the beginning of it, I attended a Creative Retreat with some fellow artists. This is a poem I wrote one morning overlooking the vineyards surrounding the farmhouse where we met.

Suspended

silence alive with morning

Birds drawing arcs between vine and sky

         Twittering of the new day

Sour and sweet mix on my tongue

         A dance of yogurt, banana, muesli –

the scrape of metal on porcelain signals finish

Steady chiming speaks of time

like the shrinking shadows between the

         straight regiments of vines

and growing sunlight on my cheek

A distant rooster call mingles with the

         murmur of voices and a frog speaks his mind

I welcome the timelessness in time –

         the brave being that slowly makes me whole

Sablet, France

May 28, 2017

“Wherever you are, be all there.” 

           Jim Elliot

“Listen to me in silence,

O Coastlands;

let the peoples renew their strength”

          Psalm 41:1a

“Quietness allows room for God to speak or to be silent. Both are gifts. Quietness stops crowding the Holy Spirit, elbowing aside God’s gentle presence. The end of striving makes room for dwelling.”
          Mark Buchanan, The Rest of God

(2nd photo courtesy of someone on the retreat, but I forget who.)