Rest
I’ve redefined rest today. I came to this conclusion just a few moments ago. Rest isn’t not doing anything, it’s doing something different.
Today, I’m not grading papers. I’m not writing Annual Report text or editing PBU Today. Today has been a day of rest.
What did I do on my day of rest? Well, I still had to teach, but one class took an exam and in the other I got to talk about the climax of one of my favorite dramas in the world…oh, and worldviews. But then, I went to chapel and sat once again under the Bible teaching of Dr. Master, and remembered why I loved his classes so much. And then, I left PBU.
I went to the Social Security Administration and sat in their waiting room for half an hour before I got called to a counter to submit my application for a new card. Then I went to Target and the bank before driving back to my apt. to gather together the million and three documents needed to transfer my licence to PA. I took off for the Driver’s License Center and there waited for only about 10 minutes in the waiting room before they called me to a counter, then sat me down again, then called me to another, took my photo, and sent me off with a temporary PA license.
On my way home I stopped by the library and switched out the CDs of The Witch of Blackbird Pond for the audio Fever 1793, jumping forward in history about a hundred years in the process. Then, before 3 PM I sat down upon my bed and spread out bills to pay and numbers to crunch and organized my finances for the next few months. Following that, I got a few quotes on car insurance and made a decision, paid for six months what I used to pay for two, and then checked email.
Email led me here, to the blogs of family and friends, reading, thinking, processing, resting.
Looking at the list above I don’t think I should feel rested, but I do. In the back of my mind, I know that there are still 40 papers, 19 exams, and 16 blogs to grade. In the back of my mind, I’m concerned that I don’t have the third student profile written for the Annual Report, and that I still haven’t gotten text from two authors for PBU Today. In the back of my mind those things remain, but for today, they’re staying in the back of my mind.
And that’s rest. After weeks on end of constant focus, always processing, always thinking, always figuring how I’m going to get this and that done, I took a break from it–and rested.
Tomorrow the break will continue. I’ll grade a bit on the airplane early in the morning, but the majority of the day will be spent in a cozy kitchen with apples simmering in stock pots on the stove. I’ll crank the handle of the sauce-making thingy; I’ll stir the apples with a wooden spoon. But I won’t worry about the PBU Today; I won’t concern myself with the papers and blogs. They can wait for Monday.
