Uberrest – What It’s Like to be Surprised by Peace

When was the last time you literally felt the tension or stress melt off of you?

How long has it been since you were so relaxed, breathing felt optional?

Where do you go to remember who you are, or reconnect – not just spiritually, but emotionally and physically also?

What would it look like for you if you suddenly found yourself surprised by peace?

All that and more has a single answer for me:  Friday.  That was the day we interrupted our regularly-schedule life and made the two-hour drive to the farm.  Know why?  Don’t laugh…

I wanted to see the flowers.

The Back Story

All her life, my grandmother loved what she called “purty things.”  And this time of year, the “purty things” she planted, and the ones my mother and dad also have planted since she passed away, come alive.  Starting with the tiny blue flowers in the yard and pasture that herald the arrival of spring, the farm becomes a canvas of color, painted by the redbuds, azaleas, dogwoods, bridal wreath, wisteria, and so much more.

And I didn’t want to miss it.

I was a little inspired as well to re-enact something I had done with Grandmother when I was a teenager. One day we tromped up into the woods and transplanted three dogwood trees.  One has since died, but this is what one of the others looked like Friday.

I hoped to mark a tree or two that we can later transplant to our house in Mobile next winter.

We left here about 10:00, and to be honest, I was pedal to the metal.  We stopped and ate at J & D’s Feed Store and Café for lunch (that’ll have to be a subject for another post).  By the time we got to the house we were so ready!

To take a nap.

No kidding.

Know that story in the Bible when Elijah was so exhausted he was ready to die? And God’s answer for him was to take a two-week nap?  Well, my situation wasn’t quite that drastic.  But when you get to a place where literally the only sound you hear is the sound of the wind and the occasional mockingbird, you may get a little sleepy, too.

I decided not to fight it.  And after about an hour I walked outside, still rubbing my eyes, grabbed a camera, and took in some of the reasons I came here for.  Like this…

And this…

I sat down on the swing out in the back yard, and that’s when I first noticed it.  I was completely relaxed.  My respiration was next to nothing. My pulse felt almost non-existent.

Now you need to understand that I start just about every morning on a screened in porch to a bird symphony in a shaded yard.  But on this day I found a whole new gear.  I noticed with more detail than ever the way I move when I’m there.  Slow.  Relaxed.  A little contemplative.  Never in a hurry.  That’s not to say I don’t get excited about things, or laugh or whatever.  It’s just that I didn’t feel the frenzy of hurried deadlines, the frustration of bumper-to-bumper traffic, or the fear of missing something that went by too fast.

We roamed around the woods in the pickup, went up to the dirt pit, by the cemetery, down in the pasture, and by the pond.  This little guy had just been born, so that was a treat.

Then we came back and looked through the barn a little and sat on the swing.  All the time from a position of being completely rested.  Even when I started the drive back home, I was driving around 55mph instead of the 70 I was driving on the way up.

Working from a Position of Rest

I know what it’s like to work from a position of frenzy.  I can also do whimsy and clumsy, artsy and easy, gutsy and glossy.  But when I work from a position of true rest – the kind of rest that fills not just my spiritual tank but my emotional one also – the scenery completely changes.

I think yours does, too.

That’s why scripture calls for Sabbaths in a variety of forms.  It’s why so much of God’s activity in the Bible starts from a similar position, including Creation, the Exodus and Pentecost.

This uberrest only happened for two reasons. First, I had a strategy, even if it was a little accidental. Second, I made the decision to go, even though I could have had plenty of reasons not to.

What about you?  Do you have a strategy for completely unwinding and recharging?  And perhaps others for those short-term daily renewals?  I’m talking about something that doesn’t require a plug or a screen of any type.

And second, do you have the courage and the will to call your soul to rest?  Life in this world will give you a thousand reasons not to. Ironically, all of those reasons make uberrest that much more vital.

I’d love to hear what your place and plan for uberrest is.  Drop a comment in the box below.  Meanwhile, in a couple of weeks the place up there is going to be teeming with blackberries and dewberries.

Guess where I’ll be?

Tagged as: Peace, Recreation, Renewal, Rest