We have arrived at the end, my friends! My deepest thanks to those of you who have stuck with me through this long journey. And my sad good-byes to the 8 or so who unsubscribed over the course of this daily invasion of your inbox. It happens every.dang.time.
And now it’s time for me to take a break from the daily and rest these fingers for a while. This view will help! It’s a corner of our longer one, our peek at the water. And for a while this summer, it was barely visible. The rains from last spring had fostered a lot of growth in our neighbors’ back yards and until I mustered up my courage and offered our kind gardener’s services in their yards, we could barely find the water. They said, “Of course,” and now I feel as though I’ve been given an adrenalin shot. I love it so much.
How do you find rest? Being near water is restful, restorative, rejuvenating, re-creational for me. How about you? Almost any part of nature does that same thing. I also like resting in a comfortable place, reading a good book, watching a well-crafted film or television show, talking quietly with friends, having someone else prepare the meal.
Rest is an important and life-giving part of what it means to be human, don’t you think?
I’ll be back with a daily Advent devotional at the end of November. And maybe a book review or two in the meantime . . .
A rest well-deserved, Diana, after all this work. I simply don’t understand, though, why folks would unsubscribe when they know this is a temporary exercise. They could have simply chosen to ignore it in their inbox for the time being. I do hope those wandering souls will return at some time.
Enjoy you break!
Blessings!
Thanks for your faithful reading and commenting all along the way, Martha. (And during this same season, I added about six new subscribers to the monthly newsletter, so who knows? Maybe some of them switched over!)
I totally agree ! Water speaks rest to me…..we are currently ‘resting’ in beautiful Maui, faraway from our home, but oh. So.beautiful.! So thankful and grateful as thanksgiving is just around the corner, that we get to enjoy this slice of paradise :))
Thank you Diane, for the past 31 days of thoughts and meditations. I really enjoyed them ! Mahalo !
Oh, I love Maui. Kauai is the top of my list, with Maui a close second for Favorite Places on the Planet. Enjoy, enjoy!!! Thanks for reading along, Linda – and thanks for telling me you did.
well, I guess I will have to resubscribe. Seems I am missing notifications of your blog…I caught up again tonight. I am so sorry to hear of the blood clots and the knee. Life doesn’t exactly get easier as we get older does it. thank you for your faithfulness here. A virtual hug your way. and yeh, I don’t get the unsubscribers, not when you are the writer! I remain one of your fans.
The notifications have come every day – at least into my own inbox and into my husband’s! And the newsletter comes out only once each month – on the 1st usually. Trying to get to it before midnight today, actually! Thanks so much for your encouragement. Means a lot, especially during a season that has been discouraging in the extreme.
I have mainly been a lurker? Reading and savoring, but not commenting, however I must say that I too, can not imagine why anyone would unsubscribe to your blog. I have treasured this past month of daily thoughts and marvelled at how many of them were just the right note for me at that time. I’ll miss these daily posts! Maybe I’ll go back and reread them as I wait for Advent devotionals from you.
You have helped me see with new eyes as I look at the world I am living in and I really appreciate that. I subscribe to your email newsletters as well and I am not sure whether they are coming only monthly or less or whether I got accidently unsubscribed, but I miss them. My mother has been deceased for over 15 years now but she had dementia and we walked through a very difficult 10 years, so your writing has struck many chords with me as you shared your journey.
Now I am also struggling with some situations where I am praying for the Lord to intervene and it just seems that justice, fairness, or mercy are not happening and so many times your words have brought reminders to me to stay the course, and trust that the Lord is indeed in the situation, even when it is so hard to see. I really don’t have any choice since these are not my situations, but I hurt for those involved and continue in prayer and supplication.
Thank you for writing faithfully and please continue, knowing there are people out there who are faithfully reading and being blessed and uplifted and encouraged.
P.S. I shared your review of Love Big, Be Well, ordered the book and am about half way through it. Thank you for recommendation! Several of my friends have said they were going to read it as well. I even got a paper copy so I could share it when I am done.
Well, I thank you for popping out from the fog of cyberspace and saying ‘hello.’ I am sorry that you find yourself in the middle of difficult situations. If they’re connected to people you care about, then they’re connected to you. And some times, that burden can feel overwhelming. It’s good to remember that you don’t have to be the savior in any of these situations. Always lessons to be learned about trusting that God has got some work of redemption to do, even in the midst of what looks overwhelmingly bad to us. Joining with you in praying for some clear sense of God at work in the midst of these hard situations.
The newsletters go out on the first of each month. I’m about to write the one for November this afternoon, so it might show up a bit late!
I am more grateful for your words of encouragement than I could possibly tell you — so thank you!! Very much.