Needed Refreshment
Dear Friends in Christ,
Welcome to the rest step.
I learned this term—“rest step”—years ago while on a strenuous hiking expedition. I was panting my way up a steep hill in fits and starts, charging ahead as best I could until there was no air left in my lungs, then stopping bent over with my hands on my knees, chest forward, gasping. It wasn’t pretty and, more to the point, it wasn’t effective. I wasn’t getting anywhere. And I was having a terrible time.
One of my more experienced companions showed me the beauty of the rest step. One foot forward, weight forward, knee straight and then . . . pause. With my weight borne momentarily by my skeleton rather than my muscles, the oxygen in my lungs had a chance to catch up. I tried it once. Then on the other side. I began to move up the mountain in this stately, syncopated pace. I wasn’t fast, by any means; it didn’t matter. I was present in myself again. I could keep going. I had given myself rest, even in the most infinitesimal way. But it was enough. I was refreshed.
This Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Lent, is known as “Refreshment Sunday.” In some parishes, the purple vestments on the altar change to pink. (And for those of you who pay attention to arcane liturgical traditions, it’s also the time to whip up your Simnel Cakes.) The eucharistic prayer shifts to look ahead to Easter.
To those of us who have been weighed down by the struggle of Lent comes a gift and a promise: Refreshment.
It occurs to me that many of our lives needed refreshment even before we came to this Fourth Sunday in Lent. A lot of us are panting for breath. We are climbing hills that seem to have no top to them. We charge ahead, panting.
To us is given the beauty of the rest step. Think about what changes in your life when you allow that moment of pause. It can be microscopic and still be meaningful. Creating even the smallest space allows air to come in.
Even in the midst of the hardest journeys, refreshment is to be found. This week God is reminding us how important it is to do it—and encouraging us not to take one more step until we do.
Yours in Christ,
Anne+