Holy Leisure

     I hope I have not lost all of you who follow my blog by having been silent for so long.   I took my computer to Florida with me, but had very limited access to the internet at the place I stayed, and found that I just wasn't able to put up a blog when I had the time to write one.   I did miss doing it, which was a good thing for me to discover.  Blogging as I have been doing has become something I look forward to, not another thing on my "must do"  list.   In fact, it has been a very long time since I had such short "must do" lists.   Leisure is a wonderful thing, and now that I know how to enjoy it without guilt,  I am relishing the joy of this stage of life, when it is not only appropriate, but important, to take as much time as I like to "smell the roses,"  read a good book, sit in the sun under a pine tree,  take a nap,  sketch a bit,  meditate, walk the dog, or write a blog!

     While I was in Florida,  I had a great time reconnecting with old friends, and delighting in a very different climate and landscape.  It was good to smell the ocean again,  and catch sight of dolphins coming up for air, and pelicans diving for fish.   The friends with whom I stayed have a ritual of sitting down together with their morning coffee and reading from three or four daily devotional books from various sources, and talking about what comes up.  I found this much better for my soul than talking politics or the economy or the latest headlines and scandals.

It made me realize how important it is to have people in my life who help lift my consciousness into a positive and spiritual space, and how vital it is to create regular times and places for focusing on what inspires and motivates and instructs me.  

     Now that I am back home, and on the internet easily,  I will certainly resume my almost-daily blog, and hope you will rejoin me.