Savouring the Moments

Oh dear, here I was thinking I was going to have all kinds of time while on holiday to write and blog and I find myself facing my last day of laziness and realizing my last blog was over a week ago! I guess my mind has been on vacation as well!!!

It is important to take a break every now and then, you know. Even if you're not busily rushing about "doing stuff" during that time, it is still important to relax, sleep in a little, spend a whole day doing absolutely nothing; to write or do something that expresses the creative side of you. As women, we tend to focus on the things we need to get done, always feeling guilty every time we snatch a few minutes to sit down, turn on the telly, and watch Judge Judy give some con artist a raking-over as we cheer on justice and all that. If we find ourselves with a couple of hours with nothing on our to-do-list, no appointments to rush off to, nothing that needs to be cleaned or tidied or mended or put away, then we feel guilty because we feel like we should be finding something we have to do. It's an endless rush of busyness!

I think it is vitally important to our wellbeing that, as women, we are as eager to take some time in our week to care for ourselves as we are to care for others. Everyone has a different way of doing it, maybe taking a long walk, writing or scrapbooking or baking a cake, or lighting candles and reading a good book while curled up with a mug of herbal tea. Even if it is 5 minutes in the morning to sit quietly and commune with God, that time we indulge in just for ourselves is worth every moment. It will infuse our souls with a renewed energy to go out and meet the needs of the world when we have taken a moment to quiet our souls.

I think I'm talking to myself today. Even on this vacation, I realized that I was busy doing things. Traveling, shopping, appointments, meeting friends, and still more traveling and shopping. I enjoyed every single minute of it and am sorry to have to return to the busyness of the working woman's world again. Yet, the moments I took to stand on the balcony after the sun and city had gone to sleep, in the darkened night illuminated only by city streetlamps and scattered lights in people's gardens, as I stopped all my rushing to speak softly with God and knew He was bending close to listen, those are the moments I savour.