I’ve come away for a respite.  Just a day.  Just a little distance.  I’m finding it hard to unplug. Had I stayed home, though, I would have found it near impossible.  There is the stack of bills that need tending.  There are the dirty clothes that need washing.  There’s the pile of them on the couch that need folding and putting away.  Do you see how much dust is on the table?  You haven’t returned that phone call yet.  Made that appointment.  Talked to that friend.  Called your mom.  She would love a call.  Yes. Good idea.  I wonder what the kids are up to today.  Boy, do the dogs need a walk.

And that’s just the beginning.  So, I’ve come away.  It gives me space for my mind to still and my soul to rise.  I know my soul longs to be heard yet honestly it is taking a while for it to show up; some time for me to hear it, to tune in.  In the waiting, I bless it.  It’s been a rough season for us all.  You don’t need the list.  I’m pretty sure that all our souls need a little tending, need to be saturated in mercy, saturated in the tender love of God.

So, I take a deep breath and look around me at the beauty that surrounds.  The wind is gently blowing the branches and the few leaves that stubbornly refuse to let go.  I feel the breeze as it caresses my face and imagine it is my Father gently surrounding me with His love, His assurance, His promise that all will be well; His promise that it already is.

I’ve stepped away in order to step into, to step up.  I’ve come away to shift my gaze from both the ordinary and complex demands of my life and onto the deepest, truest reality that God is.  The great I Am is welcoming and powerful and kind and stunningly beautiful and involved and moving and more loving and holy than my mind and heart can comprehend.  But I believe it.  I believe in His goodness.  I know He is here.  I know He cares for my life, for my soul and I know He cares for yours.

So, I sink in.  Today doesn’t have to be amazing.  He is amazing.  And I will rest in that.  Maybe tears will come.  Maybe.  But God has already come for me, for us all and my soul can nestle into that.