5 Minute Friday - Rest

I took a break from 5 Minute Friday with The Gypsy Mama, but I just love the idea so I am back. Five minutes on a Friday just to write, in the midst of the craziness a few unedited minutes.
This weeks prompt: Rest

Go

Rest: I love the word.

When I hear it my head fills with images of calm. I see a large bed with crisp white sheets and big fluffy pillows and imagine staying in it all day with books and tea and no responsibility. I see a pastoral scene that involves some combination of a lake and mountains and imagine wandering for the day. I see an ancient, shadowed church with stained glass and flickering candles and imagine silence and prayer and wonder.

Sometimes I yearn for a quiet, contemplative life. I wonder if it would be more restful, more fulfilling, more spiritually challenging. If I would see God better?

Then I look around and see my cup of coffee steaming and my little spot on the worn couch in the sunroom. A small table holds my Bible, journal, and current spiritual growth/parenting/inspirational book. It is a small oasis surrounded by the chaos of lego's and crayons and Star Wars figures that never seem to be put where they belong.

I look at the dining room table and see our Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals book amid the leftovers of breakfast and morning school work. Morning prayers have been done over breakfast and the promise of midday prayers to come over lunch and evening prayers to be said before little ones are tucked into beds.

I peek in the boys room and see the morning sun streaming in their window lighting up two blond heads snuggled together reading books on the old, comfy chair.

As I clean the bathroom I ponder again the plaque hanging there, painted by a dear friend, "Love is patient and kind..." it begins and I breathe deep.

I straighten the sheets on our bed and glance out the window. The morning light is reflecting on the glossy magnolia leaves. Amid the dusty spots and drooping plants and random boy toys (string, pot lids, old shovels) I glimpse our friendly cardinal having his morning dip in our bird bath. And I know that this bed will welcome our tired bodies after the sun goes down. And my husbands arms will hold me, offering rest and forgiveness and grace at the end of a long day and after a disagreement.

Then I see it, the rest that is to be found right here and right now.

STOP

Took more than 5 minutes today, I was mid-thought and did not want to stop. But I did not edit, even though I wanted to. :-)