My summer holidays begin today! The day began with the BUC Book Club gathering at our place to select the book list for the next year. I always enjoy this process because we get to learn about a lot of wonderful books and we get the delight of choosing just a few for the Book Club’s monthly read.

Now what lay before me in a month of nothing! Well, that is not entirely true. We have a few plans made and a few commitments to keep. But, I think you would agree, there is something delicious in the anticipation of a stretch of holidays. Sabbath time is something that was identified as needed way back in the time of the earliest record of our faith story. According to the story of Moses and the Ten Commandments God decreed that Sabbath – a time of rest – was to be both practiced and honoured.

There is something about the pace of summer that seems to slow us down. Groups stop meeting over the summer. Meetings are cancelled because, well, it’s summer. People slip into the mode of relaxation. More entertainment happens, as do spontaneous get-togethers as friends make time just to be together.

For me, the break from the constant onslaught of meetings, e-mails, and ‘to do’ lists is like a gift of renewal. I am so ready for this time to move to a schedule of my own making and to get to some of those jobs around the house that there is just never time for when I am at work.

I won’t be writing a Blog again until August. Thank you for reading my occasional entries. I hope that, on occasion, they might prod your thinking, stir your conscience or challenge your faith. I hope that you will also get some ‘downtime’ over the next couple of months.

And now, my first objective is to hang the hammock and crack open one of those great books we discussed this morning.