From My Nature Journal: Respite

(I wrote a month ago the blogpost that follows, intending to publish it later that same week. But then the Minneapolis protests and riots broke out, and it seemed to me I needed to write something else that would address the issue of lament and honor the memory of George Floyd. See that post here. My intended subject for last month, however, was respite, and the need for respite is just as pertinent for us all now as then, perhaps more so...)

Respite. What is it? It seems one of those terms that defies the typical Latin architecture of words with the prefix re. To re-spite? No, thankfully not. Webster defines respite as ‘an interval of rest or relief… a putting off or delaying.’ In short, it’s a lull, and, interestingly, it can be a noun, verb or adjective. I don’t know how many words there are that can be all three of those.

Noun, verb or adjective, I wonder if I have ever needed respite more than I do just now.

The coronavirus has added many layers of complexity and grief to what had already been a very challenging ministry season. And in the midst of this unfortunate convergence, Gail and I have come yet again for a short respite to open up our humble little cabin in the northwoods, this old rustic place, this remote and familiar little parcel that is more precious to us than any other acre on earth, likely more precious than it ought to be. But it is, and for twenty-five years has always been, our place of respite. Yet it has also been so much more. It’s a place where we’ve shared intimately with family and friends. A place that holds many of our choicest memories. A place of simple beauty that often takes our breath away. A place for contemplation and reflection where important decisions have been suffered through and made. A place where we seem to make daily discoveries of natural wonder whenever here. And, as a result of just that, a place from which I’ve often written of the wonders of God’s creation for this blog.

Yes, we are remembering to do the social distancing thing so we don’t infect the locals with any germs from the big metropolis of Minneapolis, our current place of ministry service. The county in which our cabin lot sits doesn’t even have a known COVID case. But in the midst of everything being so very abnormal these last two-and-a-half months, it is surprising, almost uncanny, but certainly refreshing how very normal life feels here. Will that be the case a month from now? A year? What, after all, will the new normal be whether, as Dr. Seuss says, ‘here, there or anywhere?’

Which brings me back to my subject. The human spirit needs respite. For heaven’s sake, Jesus the Divine even needed respite, and that not only because, as the theologians say, he was fully man while also being fully God. For even God rested on the Seventh Day of creation.

Somehow, seek a place of respite,

or if not that, at least a moment of

it, for the sake of your soul.

Hmmm. Just now while I am writing, a dear friend has texted me to share an excerpt from a devotional book he’s currently in, one I’ve also often used, though am away from now, Celtic Daily Prayer, by the Northumbria monastic community in Ireland. (Check here for their daily prayer website.) My friend knows we are here for respite and reflection. The entry for May 27 says this:

It is a difficult lesson to learn today, to leave one’s friends and family and deliberately practise (sic -- that’s the Queen’s English!) the art of solitude for an hour or a day or a week… I find there is a quality to being alone that is incredibly precious… One is whole again, complete and round – more whole, even, than ever before.

The devotional also references Psalm 131, with that lovely text:

But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me.

Whether you are in a challenging personal or vocational season, or suffering directly or indirectly from the unknowns and imbalances of this virus, or both, may I make a suggestion to you to find some calm and quiet moments with your God who loves you as intimately as the most loving mother? It is not easy to find time for this. But I implore you as I implore myself. Come to Jesus. Find rest. (See Matthew 11:28-30) Somehow, seek a place of respite, or if not that, at least a moment of it, for the sake of your soul. 

~~ RGM, May 27 2020

From My Nature Journal: Adding a Little Dangle to Your Angle

I’ve been thinking lately about something called an ‘angle of repose.’ I suppose engineers, geologists and soil scientists are familiar with the concept, but I only became aware of it when Wallace Stegner’s Pulitzer Prize winning novel of the same name was recommended to me.

The phrase sounds like the position I might be in while lying down on some pleasant grassy hillside, or the degree to which I put the passenger seat back on a long drive when Gail has taken over at the wheel and I want to grab a little snooze. But it’s actually a very technical term. The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines it thus: “The angle that the plane of contact between two bodies makes with the horizontal when the upper body is just on the point of sliding; the angle whose tangent is the coefficient of friction between the two bodies.” (Don’t you just hate it when you read a definition and still don’t have a clue what the thing means?) Wikipedia sets it down only slightly better: “The steepest angle of descent (or dip), relative to the horizontal plane, to which a granular material can be piled without slumping.” Slumping. What a great word. I don’t need a definition of that one. My mother told me “Quit slumping!” all the time, and she wasn’t talking about my baseball batting average.

More simply, and no thanks to the dictionaries, an angle of repose is the maximum angle at which a loose substance of some kind can be at rest without sliding, falling, avalanching or cascading downward due to the force of gravity. Rockslide? Mudslide? Avalanche? Rocks, mud or snow have exceeded their angle of repose. Some carnivorous insect larvae even create traps in dry sand that take advantage of the concept, with their lair opening at the bottom of a cone-shaped entrance; if some unwitting bug blunders over the edge, it usually cannot help but tumble among grains of sand down to the waiting predator below, much like that crazy Jabba the Hutt scene in the early Star Wars movie, whichever one it was.

You fell out of a hammock? Well, you get the idea. You’ve exceeded the angle of repose. Literally.

The steepness of the angle changes with different substances. Smooth, rounded sand can ‘rest’ at one angle and rough-edged sand a steeper one, a pile of smoothed river rock at one angle and chunks of jagged granite again steeper. Combining substances can also change the angle. Make rounded sand grains wet and the angle of repose increases greatly due to the electrostatic attraction of water to the sand surface. Ever try to make a sand castle with dry sand? Wet works better, no?

Here’s the thing. The phrase sounds restful, but it is not. An angle of repose is actually a fairly dangerous position. To be at rest at one’s angle of repose does not necessarily mean to be at ease. If a substance is at that angle, it won’t fall. Or slump. But just barely. So as inviting as the phrase sounds, you and I typically require more leeway than just being barely a misstep away from a slump.

This leeway can also be called margin. Do you have any? The margin to make a mistake and not suffer catastrophically? To suffer a setback and not have it ruin your life? To be injured accidentally and have the wherewithal to heal? I sometimes feel we moderns have put ourselves out there so close to the edge that, metaphorically, we leave no shoulders on our highways. We push ourselves constantly toward our tipping points, to pick up the angle image again. Jesus said, “Do not worry (Matthew 6:25),” the Apostle Paul, “Be anxious for nothing (Philippians 4:6).” Yet our lives are often nearly filled with anxieties and apprehensions, angsts and fears.

Jesus said, “Do not worry,”

yet our lives are filled with anxieties

and apprehensions, angsts and fears.

What might it take to creep a few degrees away from our angles of repose? By getting a little more rest? By praying several times each day? By meeting comfortably with a few close friends more often? By putting away the smartphones or playing less Pokémon Go? By taking a slow saunter in a natural setting from time to time? By eating slower and exercising more? By reading a good book? By memorizing Psalm 23? By limiting opinion radio or television? By getting down on the floor with a child? By shopping less, or spending less screen time? By serving others? By meditating on the love of God?

At a key time in my life when I needed leeway, I read the classic Margin, by Dr. Richard Swenson. It was subtitled “How to Create the Emotional, Physical, Financial and Time Reserves You Need.” Though the book was first published over twenty-five years ago, it has been revised since and remains a book for anyone who yearns for relief from the pressure of overload. Or of being too dangerously near their angle of repose.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t even want to live anywhere close to it.

Now, about that hammock…

~~ RGM, October 30 2019

From My Nature Journal -- Celebrating Earth Day by Praying through the Creation Story: Day 7, "Gratitude"

Introduction: The ways people pursue God, or even pray, can be as different as the very people who pursue God. Spiritual writers and mentors have long appreciated these varieties of pathways that pilgrims have followed in their prayer journey. For example, many are led to deep devotion through such things as music, contemplation or activism, but others have found that it’s the beauty and mystery of the natural, created world that leads them to a humbling encounter of praise and prayer with their Creator God. Of course, the pathways mix to varying degrees according to our personalities and interests.

Those who find nature an important spiritual pathway can see their own faith story unfold in the creation story of Genesis 1 and 2 in the Christian and Jewish Bible. Being mindful not to worship creation but only the Creator, a consideration of the natural world not only helps them do that, but also guides them in their stewardship of what God has created. Each day this week we will look to the ‘seven day’ creation story from these first two chapters of the Bible’s very first book. All references are from the Bible’s New Revised Standard Version.

Day 7 – “Grateful” -- And on the seventh day God finished the work… and he rested… So God blessed the seventh day… (Genesis 2:2-3)

Read: Genesis 2:1-3, Psalm 46 and Matthew 11:25-30

Reflect: God’s tasks were complete, for the time being, and he rested. Did God need it? No. But as so often the case, God first models the behavior and action God desires from his children. He knew we would need it. And as God rested, we cannot but imagine that he also reflected, gratified for a job well done.

God’s creation story is one of fruitfulness and respectful gratitude. Should our story be any different, especially if we are created in God’s image? Along with his spectacular creation, rest and a spirit of thankfulness are gifts to us from our Creator God. One replenishes us. The other defines our reason for being. But we must give ourselves time and opportunity to practice and enjoy them both.

When it comes to spiritual reflection, on the Sabbath or any day, people of faith for centuries have enjoyed a practice called an examen. Most often experienced in the evening, it is a time to reflect upon our attentiveness to the presence of God in our day. When did God seem most close? When most far? Why? For what am I thankful? When was I most attentive to God? Least? Did I represent Jesus well today, or not? When? What can I do differently tomorrow? Though the questions can vary, a regular examen can be a very important practice in one’s ongoing Christian formation.

Observe: Make a place this evening, or by the next Lord’s Day, for the last of our five-minute retreats this week. If you can and if the weather cooperates, sit outdoors or by a window where you can observe a sunset or a night sky. Do you know the simple hymn to the tune of Taps, called Day is Done? Reflect on it as you prepare for rest.

                       

            Day is done. Gone the sun

            From the lakes, from the hills, from the sky.

            All is well. Safely rest. God is nigh.

                        Fading light dims the night

                        And a star gems the sky, gleaming bright.

                        From afar, drawing nigh, falls the night.

                                    Thanks and praise for our days

                                    ‘Neath the sun, ‘neath the stars, ‘neath the sky.

                                    As we go this we know: God is nigh.

Pray: Lord, you are ever near, revealing yourself to us through others, through your creation and through your Holy Spirit. Thank you for your creative majesty, for beauty that inspires, for marvels that humble. O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! Amen.

Hymn for the Day: “How Great Thou Art”

Link for the Day: Carrie Underwood and Vince Gill perform “How Great Thou Art"

Resource: The Rest List

I have wanted to beef up my resource section, so will follow last week’s “On the Road with the Stations of Creation” resource with another. This one is a spiritual exercise called “The Rest List.”

Did you ever imagine that rest could be a spiritual exercise? Wouldn’t it be like God to provide fatigue as a reminder of our constant need for him, and then also provide rest as a gift of grace to replenish soul and body? Yet many Christ followers feel guilty if they let up, in spite of the fact that Jesus calls us to slow down and come to his side when we are ‘weary and heavy laden,’ to ‘find rest for our souls (Matthew 11:28).

Did you ever imagine that rest

could be a spiritual exercise?

Several years ago, one of our ministry’s board members shared the concept of a rest list as a devotional before a meeting. And since I don’t have an original idea in my head but can recognize one when I see it, it captured me, I’ve developed it further, and have been able to share it from time to time at retreats. It’s a list (duh!) of the things I do -- some very simple, some that take a little effort, some I can do on the fly, and some that require a specific venue -- that uniquely revive my spirit and create in me a sense of peacefulness, things that can open a place of contemplation and better readiness to hear or receive from God.

The exercise includes a brief rationale as well as my own list for an idea starter, and since nature always plays such a large role in my own life as a spiritual pathway, natural things are well represented. That’s why I thought it appropriate to share here on my blog. It can all be easily adapted for your own use in sharing the exercise with others, so let me know any time if you’d like a copy of a nicely-formatted PDF version as a handout.

With great thanks to Diane who inspired me with the idea, here it is, the resource “The Rest List.” As ever, I’d be delighted to know when you make one.

~~RGM, August 26, 2014

The Rest List

People create a ‘bucket list,’ things they want to eventually get to before they ‘kick it.’ What about a list I can access today and any day?

What is rest, and how does something make the list?

There are many definitions for rest, both noun and verb. In making my Rest List, I find help in presenting it as an adjective: what are the things that are restful to me? In short, for me, rest consists of those things that God uses in my temperament to give me refreshment, that breathe life into me, that even seem to prepare me for the other rigors of a typical day. They can be enjoyed on a sabbath, a day I try to fill with these kinds of things, or can sometimes also be enjoyed in the context of an otherwise busy day as a brief break, a solace, an oasis in the day’s wilderness. They may even take physical exertion, but the abiding fragrances they leave in my spirit are joy, peace, and goodness.

Why do I have a list?

I have a list to acknowledge that rest is a highly individualized gift from God. To speak this out gives me a sense of freedom to continue to live into how God has uniquely created me. It is a wish list, a reminder that I may make ‘retreats’ for the sake of my soul, to help provide balance in my day and in my life. The idea that I can look at my day or week and be able to balance the hard parts with items from my list gives me hope, and seasons my work with anticipation.

What is rest for me is often not rest for someone else, and though I may typically enjoy items on my Rest List alone, a singular delight is when a form of rest that delights me is also enjoyed by and shared with a beloved friend.

This list is dynamic in that it changes. I add to it freely, and feel great freedom to remove things that for one reason or another just aren’t as restful to me as they might once have been. But frankly, there are not many things that have fallen off the list over the years! It seems that some of these things are ‘hard-wired’ into my spirit, a part of my spiritual default that ‘resets’ me, ‘reboots’ me. Sometimes all I have to do is read my list and it feels restful!

My List:

~~Actual sleep, the night-time variety and the rare but treasured (and unhurried) afternoon

          nap

~~Time with my children and grandchildren

~~Hiking for exercise or pleasure

~~Any saunter in the woods or along a shoreline

~~Reading for pleasure at a coffee shop, especially with the smell of roasting coffee in the

          air

~~Sitting in front of a campfire (I have one in my backyard!)

~~Driving through the countryside or in the mountains

~~An hour or two of creative writing on a nature theme

~~Reading through the nature quotes and writing ideas I have saved over the years

~~Between appointments, a few minutes parked in my car in a park (not done often

         enough!)

~~Walking with a beloved’s hand in mine

~~A five-minute retreat in front of a window with a natural setting in view, even a simple

         tree or cloud

~~Reading my Bible out loud

~~Restful relationships and conversations with select friends

~~Sitting and reading, praying or meditating before a body of water

And You?

Make a Rest List for yourself, and check it once in awhile. Start simple. Refine it periodically. Add and subtract from it. Be as specific as you want to be. Consider it a part of your sabbath blessing to enjoy the things that you list.