“Better is a handful of quietness
than two hands full of toil and a striving after wind.”
Ecclesiastes 4:6
Last week Bill and I took a one-day road trip to our cabin in the Wet Mountains.
You might ask, Is the 2 1/2 hour drive worth a few hours away? A resounding yes!
The would-ofs (computer work), could-ofs (coffee with a friend), should-ofs (dusting) all left 
behind, bowing to the call of our sanctuary, to quietness, to rest.
It was good–very, very good.
“We are worth time set apart for rest because God is worthy of our attention.”
Rhythms of Rest, Shelly Miller, p. 128
There was physical rest. I took that nap I never gift myself on the weekdays at home. There was soul rest, a day to breathe deeply, a day to be, the handful of quietness trumping the toil of computer work, and striving after the wind (I’ve learned the dust returns).
For a while in the afternoon I enjoyed our deck and zero-gravity chair while reading Jean Fleming’s Pursue the Intentional Life. My underlines and margin notes testifying to the fact that God was speaking to me through Jean’s words. My soul responded.
The word invest stood out in chapter 20. When I invest time in the beauty and quietness of the mountains, in the solitude our off-the-grid cabin offers, I find my soul restored. Physical weariness not cured in one day, but somehow different; it’s a good weary.
John Ortberg in his book, Soul Keeping, reminds, “When my will is consistently, freely, joyfully aligned with what I most deeply value, my soul finds rest. That is wholeness. When I live with half-hearted devotion, my soul is always strained.” (p. 68)
In January I penned this post on Isaiah 30:15. It was the beginning of my journey of rest and resiliency, my words for 2017.
What is restful for you?
How do you feed your soul?