Devotions from Lisa McMinn’s book, The Contented Soul

We don’t have to change careers and downsize our life to begin to attend to rhythms in our lives.  The author writes about sleeping, eating, seasonal rituals and the Sabbath as examples of established rhythms of rest from daily life.

1.Sleep is necessary and good for us!  Most of us are sleep deprived and it affects our productivity and relationships. Depriving the brain of sleep is not healthy and affects our mental sharpness and kind responses to daily living.. Sleep is a gift-a daily reminder that we are frail humans that need rest.

2. Eating nourishes our body while satisfying our palate.  We need to “slow down and to choose what we eat with intention, and to gather with family and friends as we nourish our bodies with food.”.  Eating can become a meaningful part of our day as we use it as an opportunity to slow down  and to build fellowship into our eating. As we eat together it reminds us that we belong to something bigger than ourselves. Let us sip and savor our meals.

3. “ Seasonal rituals call our attention to the present and encourages us to be mindful of the underlying activity of a particular season.”  For the author her favorite Fall activity was to go into the forest on a windy day and let the trees rain down their leaves on her. It was a reminder to her to let go and trust that the work she had down was sufficient. Sometimes we engage in community-held celebrations and we pause from work and become aware of the season we are in.

4. Saving the Sabbath is to acknowledge our dependence on God who sustains us. This day invites us to pause, to reflect on where we have been and where we are going. Sabbath is a day we may walk in the woods, sit by the lake,

or anything that encourages us to be free from our usual tasks. “Sabbath rest is one of God’s good gifts, a discipline intended to bless.”