"When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children’s lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free."
        ~Wendell Berry~

It is that time of year. The time when one needs to shake loose the stuff you’ve carried, the work that will not be easily finished, the thoughts that need time to ruminate. It is time for a northern renewal. Here in Minnesota that often translates to:"I’m going to the lake."

Our family leaves tomorrow for a few days at ‘the lake’, taking time to be with family and friends and a celebration of years of tradition surrounding the Fourth of July. It is an anchor of the year, one that is thrown out and grabbed with relief by hands and hearts that need to sit by the water, listen for the sound of the loons, and allow the cobwebs to clear out of a too-full mind. We will allow the presence of  towering pines and  white-washed  birch to work their healing magic and will return to the city ready to resume the work at hand. Computers will be unplugged, no-wi-fi there, only the slosh and slap of waves on the dock, only the presence of the stars that are only visible as city-weary eyes become accustomed to the night sky.

For the next few days I will ‘rest in the grace of the world’ as Wendell Berry writes and will resume writing here on Monday the 7th of July. May these days find you resting in the grace that is your world and taking time to mark the freedom of these glorious days.

Blessings…………..