Fall “BRAKE”

In case you haven’t noticed, Fall Break isn’t really much of a break. Unless you are Dean Eccles and his wife AJ, who ran off to Italy and the Alps, most of us are working hard over break even if there is a change of scenery. Most faculty I know are facing a pile of grading. Most students have papers to write or exams to study for—or both. Staff may be taking a few days off, but at this point in the semester, no one has “extra” time to rest. I have a report to write, a book to finish for an assessment working committee, and well, no more than anyone else. With some luck and a little prayer, I am hoping that everyone travels safely and stays healthy, so there are few hospital calls to make. 

Don’t you wish sometimes that you could stop the world for a few hours and catch up? Sunday afternoon my mom and sis took the kids. I got so much housework done I couldn’t believe it…and I have to admit that the dust bunnies I encountered might be confused with abominable snowmen. I will never win any awards for house-keeping. What if I just had a day of rest…a real Sabbath? Of course in the next breath I start to think about what I could get done on a day of rest rather that how I could truly rest and renew my soul. Sabbath is not “time to catch up,” but rather “time to stop and breathe.” Maybe I should advocate that we have fall BRAKE instead of fall BREAK. 

What if life had an emergency brake that would just force you to bring things to a halt and take the time you need to heal and restore your soul? 

Father Theodore Hesburgh was the president of Notre Dame for 35 years, and his tenure overlapped my growing up years in South Bend, IN, so I grew up hearing his quiet words of wisdom. I ran across this prayer of his this week and though I should share it as we approached fall break:

Lord, give us the ambition
to do as much as we can,
as well as we can,
as long as we can,
and the resolve not to despair
over the things we cannot do.

May this “break” be both a period to catch up and have moments of Sabbath for you. Travel with peace, travel carefully, and I’ll see you next week.

Blessings,

Stephanie