Rest...

Morrow is not only the name of our home but is also means “the following day” or tomorrow. I spent some precious time celebrating and learning about rest this week, and now I have another new vision of the role our home plays in the lives of others. The Morrow House gives people a chance to rest, renew and regroup so they are better prepared for what is to come…or better prepared for tomorrow.

A small group of us spent the day learning the ancient Biblical tradition of sabbath and preparing challah bread. We learned that sabbath is meant to be a day set apart from the other days of the week, it should look unlike the frenzied, harried and rushed lives that are all too common. A day of sabbath or rest can sound a bit delightful and simultaneously daunting right? I would love to rest…but what about the laundry? What about soccer practice? What about the grocery shopping? I think its easy to say I don’t have time to rest….however maybe we should say we don’t have the time NOT to rest?

So this week, we made bread. It was simple and took time. The ingredients weren’t complex, but the process couldn’t be rushed. The yeast needed time to work. The dough needed time to rise. And all the while we shared and challenged ourselves to look at what rest meant and could mean to us, our marriages and our families.

Rest can look different for everyone…but however it looks to you…I think its important. Our group talked about a lot of things that would look different if we tried to set apart one day a week to live differently. Maybe it would mean gathering everyone at the table with candles lit and a meal shared with folks you love. Maybe it means no scheduled activities. Then we went further with the brainstorming…maybe it looks like no phones, social media, television…maybe this is a day we set apart by separating from the outside influences we bring into our homes and hearts every day? Maybe it’s a quiet time after dinner with a hot bath or a long conversation over hot cocoa? What our leader Mary Jo Pierce shared with us is that as she has taught this concept over the years she has seen couples and families transformed…because it becomes a sacred time in the home that everyone can count on and rely on…it begins to help them prepare for the morrows to come. 

The ancient texts teach us that rest is essential…and when you look at how different life was before the lightbulb and electricity…you can easily see why we are so frenzied now.

Historically, when it got dark, most activity ceased. People slept, and they stopped working because they literally couldn’t do much else. It’s made me stop to think about how much technology keeps me and the people I love “busy” and beyond that I wonder about how much value all of that “busy” brings to our lives. Culturally I wonder if we are almost addicted to “busy”.

Do you feel rested? Most of us don’t. Life is full and sometimes it’s “busy”. However, rest is a beautifully renewing and enriching experience filled with opportunity to calm fears and cultivate loving moments…it’s no wonder that we all find ourselves yearning for it. I am challenging myself to cultivate rest not just for me but for others around me. 

The significance of the setting was not lost on us. As we enjoyed the day of challah bread making and sabbath in The Morrow House, a home built by Jewish immigrants in 1886, we all felt a fondness to the family who is now long gone but who most certainly shared challah bread and honored sabbath under the same roof.

I know each of us left feeling inspired for the morrow’s to come.