This morning my Frederick Buechner Lenten devotional looked at how happiness is created by people, while joy comes from God. He said, "...we never take credit for our moments of joy because we know that they are not human-made and that we are never really responsible for them. They come when they come. They are always sudden and quick and unrepeatable. The unspeakable joy sometimes of just being alive. The mirable sometimes of being just who we are with the blue sky and the green grass, the faces of our friends and the waves of the ocean, being just what they are."
After a week of 16-hour days rife with important but demanding meetings, fundraisers, mission efforts and pastoral care, I have found myself with a Sunday in which there are no demands on me whatsoever. This very rarely happens, and as we have a big youth retreat away next weekend, I thought I should really take advantage of a space of grace in my schedule and get away somewhere for real Sabbath time. On a whim, I asked on facebook if any of my lovely Norn Iron friends had a holiday home on the North Coast that needed a visitor, and the amazing Autersons from church offered theirs within an hour. So, I'm off tomorrow morning on the train to Castlerock, the northern tip of this wee country, for a time of rest: beach/hill walks, pj's, cooking, eating, painting, reading Harry Potter, praying, sleeping and all that good stuff. Hopefully time to discover moments of joy in being just who I am with the blue sky and the green grass and the waves of the ocean.
I've no internet at all there (this is probably for my own good), so I'll take plenty of pictures of lovely Castlerock and share it all Monday. Happy weekend, everybody!
Peace,
Whit
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