If you think way back to January, you might remember that Rest and Community are my goal words for this year.
Rest
My plan for rest basically revolved around observing the Sabbath. I didn’t have any other concrete ideas of what rest would look like, but taking Sunday afternoons off from work seemed like a good place to start. For the first several months of 2019, I didn’t do any schoolwork or use social media on Sundays. To my surprise (and delight), it was really effective – I felt much more at peace and ready for the week on Monday mornings.
As the summer approached, my approach to Sabbath became less organized. Weekends got busier, as did school, requiring me to work on Sunday afternoons. Travel in June and July meant sometimes I didn’t even know it was Sunday. But, the remainder of the summer looks like it should be fairly stable and I’m looking forward to getting back into a Sabbath routine. I’ll also be teaching the same courses this coming school year that I did last year (!!!), so that would allow me a little more flexibility in my life.
Community
For most of the first part of 2019, I didn’t feel great about my progress in this area. Community is hard, you actually need other people to make it happen. And the beginning of the year wasn’t any slower than any other six months of my life recently. But, I did join a few groups in the spring and summer that are making me feel more involved.
In March, I began taking pottery classes from a friend of mine. There were 4 other participants in the class, none of whom I knew beforehand. We met almost every Sunday night through early June. I can’t say that I made anything unbelievable, but it was a really lovely time of focused activity, socializing and learning a new skill.
Last month, I was invited to participate in a bunco group with one of my coworkers. I’d never played before and, once again, didn’t know any of the other attendees, but I had so much fun. It was a great way to meet lots of new people who I never would have crossed paths with otherwise. I don’t know if I’ll be able to participate every month going forward, but I’m hoping to do so whenever possible.
This summer I’m participating in a bible study with about 15 women from my church. As someone whose schedule frees up in the summer, at the same time as many regular church events stop, I was thrilled about the opportunity. We’ve only met a couple of times so far (and I missed a week when we were on vacation) but it has been lovely. We’re reading If God is For Us by Trillia Newbell.
The rest of the summer is relatively low key, but I’ll plan to update my thoughts on these goals in the fall.
