It’s Sunday night, at the end of a lovely, stretched out weekend, and I am missing the outlet that this blog has become. Hello again.

The dog is stretched out on the floor in lazy, inspiring fashion. His posture says to me, “Live it up. Play hard, then rest with everything you’ve got. Live all that you can live out of the day, and fall into bed, content at the end of it.” Doesn’t seem too intangible after the past few…

At the end of my work week, Thursday afternoon and evening were spent meeting our friends’ sweet new babe, then catching up with a girlfriend over coffee. Friday was lazy–one of those days I felt guilty about at first, but was grateful for by its end. Yesterday filled up with Summer staples: the farmer’s market in the morning (tomatoes, cucumbers, butterball potatoes, fiery peaches, ciabatta rolls and my favorite fall blossoms by-the-plenty to brighten up each room of the house), lunch with family (visiting from Chicago), an afternoon trip to Frederick Meijer Gardens for more Chihuly and the Grand Valley Dahlia show (amazing!), appetizers for dinner at New Holland Brewery, ice cream at Captain Sundae and the tail end of the sunset at our favorite beach, topped off with a movie before bed. Today…awesome worship at church, lunch at home, a Sunday afternoon nap, dinner and reading at the beach, sunset and a walk with the dog when we returned. It made a world of difference to have the house picked up by Saturday morning, the yard all mowed and edged before lunchtime (Thank You, Jason!). And on this side of things, I feel rested and ready to approach another week. We worked hard, then we played hard, and we rested well.

I just don’t think there’s enough time in this life to waste opportunities to celebrate it with the people, places and things that we love. Amazingly, for all the additional time I’m allowing myself to just be, I’m also feeling more accomplished in the everyday things. It’s possible to clean in spurts, do laundry one load at a time, grocery shop in under an hour and grow evermore responsible with what we have and have been given, all the while better enjoying the life that’s in front of us. There’s more time to pray, more hours at home, more days with family and friends, more availability for others. And it feels so good.

Balance. Hard work. Enthusiastic play. Good rest.

As I look at the week ahead, I trust that it will be filled with good things. Unexpected blessings, healthy exchanges, new adventures. And it may contain curve balls I can’t predict, hard conversations or days that exhaust…but even those will be opportunities for growth, grace, love and celebration. This week, I’m going to choose simplicity. No frills. Even-keeled edges. I’m going to remove myself from spaces that aren’t life-giving, find outlets for creativity and energy and worship in the in between spaces. I’m going to work hard, in order to play hard and rest well. Join me, won’t you?

Here’s to the days ahead!

mm