Time For Sabbath

Today is the first day of my leave... I'm taking two weeks. It has been a full on few months, life in a busy country parish is rich and varied and certainly never boring, and it is all too easy to be so caught up in the lives and interests and concerns and stuff that you never really stop.
stop and listen
stop and wait
stop and pray

So I am taking two weeks
First to travel to visit with good, good friends, to conduct thier daughter's wedding (yes, it's work, but in a good way!) and to join in the celebrating
Then two days of just us - spending time together, with each other and away from the manse
Then, I am on retreat - nourishment for the soul
Time to reflect and share, to consider how we deal with conflict and reconcilliation, and to be quiet. Each day has specific hours set aside for silence and solitude, to reflect and pray - and that will be very good indeed
After those four days, I'll return home, and we will travel south to visit with my family - to catch up, to revisit old familiar places, and to renew... that's another three days
which takes us to 12
the final two days I will be back home
not working, but houseworking!!
And that's my sabbath - rest and fun and thought and silence and words and friends and family and joy and me and him and HIM
Perfect!!