learing to glide

My first few weeks in New Zealand were jam-packed with crazy adventure. I was sprinting from one side of the country, to the next. As the memory making marathon continued, I began to lose steam. When I finally took time to breath, I realized just how exhausted I was. Two ideas began to come together. The first was "listen!" when my body was worn out, eyes hardly staying awake-that is not code for keep pushing, its code for rest. When my soul is weary, that doesn't mean watch a movie, it means read the Word, worship and refuel. Listen to myself, listen to others, listen. As I began to listen, I began to hear.
The second idea was an analogy from a talk I heard by Joe Springer. It was the idea of taking time to glide between swim strokes, instead of franticly moving your arms as fast as possible, and how the time between strokes actually sends the swimmer further, faster and allows them to go for longer. This same idea of "gliding" can be used in my life. The idea of taking a moment, a minute or an hour to pause. Taking time to rest, pray and reflect. Pausing is something I have began to include in my life and it has began to transform bits and pieces of my time here. Everywhere I look, I am in awe and amazed by the beauty of a bold mountain, turquoise gorge, thick forest. I have also began to be amazed by the beauty in people, the way my flatmate bought a tablecloth and flowers for our front table, or another cleaned up my milk that spilled all over the floor, two Canadians who drove an hour out of their way to take us to our car, the way someone authentically pursues someone of another culture, encouraging words, invitations, risks in conversation and laughter. I feel like my life is no longer just a series of events, but has become a seasons of celebration.