Tomorrow I will have been back in work for a week. In fact, on the Friday I had gone to Belmont Abbey for our annual Youth Department retreat. It's only an overnight stay and it's not really a rigorous retreat: it's a healthy combination of reflection and recreation. It was good to start back with that. It put me back in touch with the people with whom I work and was a reminder that I now really had to get back to work.
It hasn't been that easy, mind! Monday morning was spent replying to e mails that had built up over three months, and sorting through paperwork, and by the early afternooon I was, well, bored! So, there was only one thing for it: stop working! I decided I needed to ease myself gently into my duties! No point in overdoing it. But I know that by the end of Sunday, and our first 'e' event since I have come back to work, I will know that my sabbatical is well and truly over.
However, having said that, I think that the experience of my Sabbatical Leave will give me more of a healthy balance in the future. I have decided that many of the things I did and achieved on my sabbatical I will continue to do in some small way. I will read more, write more and make more time to go to the theatre and do other things that I really enjoy. I have recently revisited Ted Hughes' Birthday Letters and was struck by the last lines of the first poem, Fulbright Scholars: 'It was the first peach I had ever tasted/I could hardly believe how delicious/At twenty-five I was dumbfounded afresh/By my ignorance of the simplest things.' Just like my short time at Belmont Abbey, there needs to be a healthy balance of reflection and recreation, work and play, intensity and relaxation, sacrifice and serendipity...and the odd peach!
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Work. Show all posts
Friday, 25 April 2008
Monday, 1 October 2007
The Service of Sleep
It's been one of those days that have been quite productive. Some days I can be so engaged in busyness or preoccupation with this thing or that but at the end of the day have nothing obvious to show for it. Today, I think, I can look back and see some of the things that have been accomplished. But even then, when I start thinking about all of that, the loose ends of so many things start dangling before before my eyes. There is always so much unfinished business! There is always so much to do, and maybe a sleepless night of meandering thoughts lies ahead, with loose ends that lie close.
It's been some years now since I have regularly said Compline before going to sleep. There have been times when it has lulled me into sleep or provided a peaceful passing into the pillow. Compline is the completing hour: it puts an end and lays to rest the things that have past, the mistakes and misfortunes, the regrets and reflections. I love that prayer from Compline: 'At this evening hour your Son our Lord Jesus Christ lay in the tomb and so hallowed the grave to be a bed of hope for all who put their trust in you.' The going to sleep and laying to rest at night is an image of that final slipping into sleep and, as my former Incumbent used to say, 'Where there's death, there's hope!'
And so I think of those death bed words of St Francis who is quoted as saying, 'Let us now begin to serve the Lord, for up to now we have done nothing.' It's a rather humble and self deprecating departure (especially when you consider what he did accomplish in his life) but one that places himself totally in the hands of the Lord. It may sound as if he has some loose ends to sort out or, rather, that there is always more to do. But, for me this night it is, I think, about a giving of himself for service even when sleep finally comes. And so as I prepare to climb the stairs the service of sleep awaits! What a wonderful way to regard it, especially in a 24/7 world, where you can shop when you like and work when you want and party til the darkness passes. In fact, half way through writing this I received a phonecall from someone at 11.10pm. - a friend who called for a chat! But now that and everything else is behind me. It's been a busy day, one of those days that have been quite productive, I think, though one thing remains: so let us now begin to serve the Lord, for up to now we have done nothing. Ah yes, it's time for sleep. Goodnight.
It's been some years now since I have regularly said Compline before going to sleep. There have been times when it has lulled me into sleep or provided a peaceful passing into the pillow. Compline is the completing hour: it puts an end and lays to rest the things that have past, the mistakes and misfortunes, the regrets and reflections. I love that prayer from Compline: 'At this evening hour your Son our Lord Jesus Christ lay in the tomb and so hallowed the grave to be a bed of hope for all who put their trust in you.' The going to sleep and laying to rest at night is an image of that final slipping into sleep and, as my former Incumbent used to say, 'Where there's death, there's hope!'
And so I think of those death bed words of St Francis who is quoted as saying, 'Let us now begin to serve the Lord, for up to now we have done nothing.' It's a rather humble and self deprecating departure (especially when you consider what he did accomplish in his life) but one that places himself totally in the hands of the Lord. It may sound as if he has some loose ends to sort out or, rather, that there is always more to do. But, for me this night it is, I think, about a giving of himself for service even when sleep finally comes. And so as I prepare to climb the stairs the service of sleep awaits! What a wonderful way to regard it, especially in a 24/7 world, where you can shop when you like and work when you want and party til the darkness passes. In fact, half way through writing this I received a phonecall from someone at 11.10pm. - a friend who called for a chat! But now that and everything else is behind me. It's been a busy day, one of those days that have been quite productive, I think, though one thing remains: so let us now begin to serve the Lord, for up to now we have done nothing. Ah yes, it's time for sleep. Goodnight.
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