Rest

Langford Lakes in January

Winter resting is nature’s way of telling us that a season of stillness is essential to our wellbeing. Everything slows down, becomes quiet and just exists for a while. It is a break from all the work of growing, reproducing, competing, gathering and doing. It is a gift.

I am not someone who finds rest easily. The world we've built hums with constant demand, leaving me feeling that I am never enough, that I must do more, be more. My attempts at unwinding sometimes become distractions that leave me feeling numb, not rested. True rest, I've learned, only comes when I feel both physically and psychologically safe. It is a shift from feeling hopeless and afraid to being expectant and trusting.

Creatures that hibernate can do so because they have gathered what they need and have found a place of comfort. Their rest is not careless; it is earned through preparation and trust in the cycle of the seasons. In the story of Creation, work was followed by a command to rest, and out of that rhythm the Sabbath was born. The Jewish people prepared for rest by putting things in order the day before, so that when the Sabbath arrived, they could enter into worship and reflection free from the worries of the world.

I want to live like that, to build a rhythm of work, preparation and rest. To see rest not as an absence, but as sacred space. Because beauty and rest walk together.