Receiving the Day

My wife and I just returned from a relaxing vacation to Kennebunkport, Maine and while there I read an insightful book titled Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time. My reading of it comes on the heels of another thoughtful book I read this month called Sabbath Keeping: Finding Freedom in the Rhythms of Rest. Both books served to reinforce the convictions of my wife and I concerning the need to throttle the speed at which we live our personal and professional lives.

Retreating to an idyllic setting as we did helps to slow the pace of living but our journey toward “the unforced rhythms of grace,” as Eugene Peterson calls it in The Message, has been some time in the making. And it has been satisfying for us the last couple of months to experience the pleasure of sharing our philosophy of life with several others through a presentation we call “Sense and Simplicity: Relax, Refresh and Renew.” One good nugget of advice: slow down long enough to read a good book.