A Brief Pause

Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.
- Matthew 11.29

To awaken to the quiet sounds of a holiday weekend. To have an extra day attached to a weekend. It is a great gift. For me, it is something crucial for growth. Time to breathe. It is something I am deeply thankful for. 

I have scarsely had time to breathe lately, and that has challenged me in many ways. I have been stretched more deeply than I have known before. But if we are not stretched and challenged, how will we grow? If everything is easy and charming, what are we learning? That life is a breeze?

We go through the struggle and come out with a hopeful countenance. When I have a brief pause to reflect on this, my soul delights in the fruit of the labour. Then, rest can come. An extra day. A time to rest. And while not everything is restored in one extra day, one can bear the next day a bit more with a sense of calm.

Every person needs to take one day away. A day in which one consciously separates the past from the future. Jobs, family, employers, and friends can exist one day without any one of us, and if our egos permit us to confess, they could exist eternally in our absence. Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for. Each of us needs to withdraw from the cares which will not withdraw from us.
- Maya Angelou