Nearing the end of the day.  

In maybe half an hour we'll be into that wonderful late November twilight that makes the drive home so deep and rich.

And for the first time today I am aware of being at rest.

Woke up feeling already squeezed into a shape of anxiety I didn't like by the pressure of Christmas deadlines and obligations.  In my case, mostly having to do with liturgies, special services, and end-of-year loose-ends-to-be-tied-up at church.

But the pressures come in all kinds of guises, and maybe you are feeling some of your own.

The temptation (and my usual way of "coping") was to simply forge on all the harder.  To take a moment to prioritize and organize, and then to launch into doing and doing and doing some more to whittle the list down bit by bit.

And there is some value, and sometimes necessity as well, in handling life that way.

But today I chose a different path.  I chose to honour one commitment I had -- a mid-morning visit with a couple of our church members who struggle these days with a variety of health concerns.  And after that I cancelled two other appointments (sorry Brynna and Bill!) around and in between which I was planning to do as much of my prioritized work as I could ... 

... and instead drove down to a lakeshore park, left my briefcase and laptop and daytimer in the back seat of the car, zipped up my jacket, and went and sat by the lake -- to take in the day, to breathe, and to practice as much of the mindful contemplation as I remember from my days in treatment and from a little book by Pema Chodron, called The Wisdom of No Escape, that I've been reading and trying to practice in fits and starts.

And it made all the difference in the world ... or at least in me and in the world of my own heart and soul.  By mid-afternoon I was settled, grounded and open enough to come to my favourite coffee shop, get the liturgies for the season completed far more easily than I imagined would be the case, and now to write these thoughts.

But the productivity is not the point nor the reason.  The simple experience of resting in the moment and breathing the goodness of life is what it's all about -- what all our life (work included) is at its best all about.