Where is your favorite place?

Where do you like to go to relax and renew your energies?

There’s a place on the rocky coast of Maine that is my special spot.

There on my beloved rocks I have hammered out difficult decisions,

renewed my focus

and restored my sense of purpose in life.

And even though it’s been some time now since I have been able to sit on those rocks

I still recall the marvelous peace I felt while there.

It was early in the afternoon when I last climbed down those rocks

to my favorite nook,

a place sheltered from the wind but where I could view the sparkling ocean;

a place where I could feel the warmth of the summer sun and smell the sea air.

That day I positioned my blanket and pillow just at the right angle

to give me comfort as I  wrote and pondered.

And write I did….

I wrote out my plans for the next few months in my faithful journal,

I expressed my thoughts about so many things,

my hopes and dreams and simple prayers.

While the sun moved slowly across the sky I became lost in thought

until I discovered hours later that the tide was rapidly coming in

and the wind had shifted.

I quickly gathered my belongings and began my climb back up those boulders

but before I did

I glanced back for one more look.

A look that is engraved in my memory to this day.

As I gazed in that age-long second across the diamond sparkled ocean

with the sound of the lonely gull and the crashing of the waves

I sensed that I was on holy ground that day.

A God given place

to hear His Voice and listen to His Will.

Gentle tears of longing filled my eyes as I willed myself

to accept the ending of an unforgettable afternoon.

But I still return.

Yes, even though living many miles from the ocean

in my heart I still return whenever I remember to this place

on my beloved rocks.

Restored,

refreshed

and renewed.

Do you have a place of rest?

A place where you too can be refreshed?