In June I took my first real vacation in quite some time. A confessed workaholic (a term I discovered in the book Rest by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang originated from a study of ministers!), I was finally tired enough to unplug from work.

I leaned very deliberately into my time of rest and embraced days filled with joy, love, contemplation, and simple fun. I made art, read books, played board games, listened to music, slept in, played in the ocean, lazed in the sun, danced, put my feet up, and perhaps most enjoyable of all, surprised my mother with a visit on her birthday.

Then on the last Thursday in June I sat in an airport transfixed by a television monitor covering news of what had been going on while I was away. My heart hurt. I thought about people I knew who would be upset, discouraged, and overwhelmed by these latest national and world events.

Activist and healer Jardana Peacock says, “Overwhelm and burnout continue to be pillars in our activism and inside our organizations—however, more and more people, organizations and movements are committing resources to healing, to spirituality, to resilience.” Yes.

Science backs up the notion that deliberate rest aids healing and makes space for building personal resilience and the fortification of the spirit.

Have you been resting? Taking a healthy time out with a move back from all the things -- especially those things breaking your heart? They’ll still be here when you return. I wish it weren’t so, but at least for now that’s true.

Prayer ~ Spirit that fills us with Life, guide us toward a deliberate rest that would enable us to connect with our hearts and to heal in whatever ways we need, so that we might return again, renewed, to that which is set before us.

Palms together,

Rev. Jacqueline Brett

Assistant Minister for Congregational Engagement