Christmastime in the city

Christmas has come and gone once again, though as we plan a trip to Winnipeg this weekend to see Sarah’s family it feels as though we’re heading into an extended edition of the holidays.  Sarah has had to return to work for a couple of days this week, but with Tyler, Nicole and Olivia still down it still feels like we’re on Christmas vacation.

This year was a bit of a return to tradition for the Cain side of the family.  Christmas Eve at Auntie Laurel and Uncle Don’s and Christmas Day at Mom and Dad’s.  Good times and good food!  Nicole, Tyler and Olivia arrived soon after and we had a larger family gathering complete with Uncle Don songs, more gift-giving, more food and even dancing!  Yep, that’s right.

Some Christmas Photos VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Two and a half years since its completion, I was finally able to print off a finished copy of my undergrad thesis for Mom and Dad.  I thought it’d make a good surprise gift at the end of the morning.  Though the manuscript was officially ‘done’, I’d gone through it again last October and then again in January when I experienced I really frustrating set-back.  I’d accidently created two different copies without realizing it, and had on some days been editing one version and on another day editing the second.  Sometimes in March, I think it was, I bit the bullet and read through both copies again to try and decide which sections of which version was the final.  Thankfully, I had noticed my mistake early enough and I ended up merging the two without much difficulty.  Still, you can imagine the headache.

Afterwards I was able to finally pull in my title page and table of contents and save the whole thing as a .pdf.  It’s such a good feeling to get it totally done and have a copy printed off.  I wanted mom and Dad to have the first one (I have an older one that I printed when still at the college), as they played such a huge part in me even being able to go to school.

If you’ve been following my blog you’ve probably heard me mention my favourite authors from time to time.  When it comes to the Christian life, Eugene Peterson is my favourite.  He’s down-to-earth and grandfatherly, and his writing is rich, meaningful, and pastoral and imaginative.  For Eugene, it’s all about how everything is liveable, nothing in our Christian faith is meant to be abstract, general, propositional or removed from day to day life.  It’s all personal.  All relational.  All participatory.  Last Christmas I received Practice Resurrection, which I’ve blogged about before. This year I was blessed with three more books of his five-piece series on spiritual theology. Each book is a “conversation” on a different topic related to living.  So now I’m reading Eat this Book, a conversation about spiritual reading.  I think I’ll be able to use it with my Sunday school lessons in January.

It was great to see Olivia again, and to visit with Tyler and Nicole—who we introduced to the thrilling epic farming board game, Agricola.  As we purchased sheep, built clay huts and harvested our grain, Olivia would lean over to me, her Dad’s iPhone in hand with her favourite kids game, and show me how to colour Christmas trees and listen to Tinkerbell stories.  She was pretty interested in all the little wooden pieces for the game, so we let her set up a farm of her own—though all she really wanted to do was collect more wood and assign everyone coloured bowls: “Blue for Dad and orange for Nikolas and green for Sarah and yellow for Mom!” 

We’ve made New Year’s Eve plans with the three of them once we’re all back in Winnipeg—and hopefully we’ll be able to see Mike and Steph, too!

Until next time, happy reading, and hoping you’ve all had a very Merry Christmas!

a late summer song

Sarah brought me over to the computer yesterday to show me this song by Josh Garrels from his album Love & War & The Sea In Between. We both loved it, so I thought I'd share it with anyone out there who takes the time to read this blog (thank you!). Like my other song posts this one will now relate to a time of year, I think. So I've dubbed it the late summer song. Do enjoy!

Be well this weekend.

bread and breakfast

…is what I accidently find myself calling a B&B if I’m not careful.  I guess I just love bread so much that it wiggles its way in there without me noticing.

It’s alright though, ‘cause this morning there was some fresh bread for breakfast.  Homemade croissants, muffins, and cinnamon buns!  So good.  And fresh fruit and yogurt (which I devour copious amounts of on a daily basis now, seemingly).

Sarah and I got away for one night this week to Spruce Lake B&B, just west of Kenora.  The suites were added on to a beautiful modern lakeside cottage several years ago by the homeowners and hosts, Henk and Linda Sluis.  Not only did we get a queen size bed and an ensuite bathroom, but the rooms open up onto a second story deck which overlooks the lake below.  It was great.

While we were engaged we took pre-marital counselling with our dear friends, Lauren and Ruth Miller.  They recommended that we make an effort to get away as a couple twice a year: once in the spring, once in the fall.  It’s a time away from the busyness to get to know each other again: to sit and talk.  Or, as the sign in our suite said, “sometimes I sit by the lake and sit and think, and sometimes I just sit.”

This weekend was a sitting weekend.

With the fast-pace of my new job at the nursery, I think I was starting to let some things pile up in my mind: worries and concerns which I had taken upon myself without my realizing.  This was a weekend to confront some of those things: some of them were set to the side, not needing to be taken up right now.  Others, I realize again, are not for me to be carrying alone: and so I offer it to Sarah and we choose to pick up and move forward with it together.

It needn’t happen in so many words.  Sometimes it’s just a word spoken and responded to.  Or a look and a nod.  You’ve let the other in, and they’ve understood.  And that is beautiful.

daring to rejuvenate

Sarah enjoys going out.  Not anything extravagant--simple things like visiting friends or going to get ice cream or trying some new social activity.  While I'm perfectly comfortable to stay home, doing the same things I usually do nearly every night, she'll be the one to suggest some new outing or adventure.  At first I resist, then, often after being reminded that last time I felt the same way but in the end really enjoyed myself, we'll decide to go.  And it is good.  In fact so often it's exactly what I need right then.  Whether it's visiting with friends when I'd rather sit at home alone, or simply getting out of the house in order to spend some time just the two of us doing something different I come home feeling better, even rejuvenated.  In hindsight I find myself blessed by those moments: opportunities that need to be intentionally taken and lived in to be enjoyed.

The tree nursery often lays off their crew for a month or so in early October, and again just before Christmas until the "big sow" starts up in February.  When I mention to people that I've been off work they'll often say how they wish they had that same free time to "get things done."

I felt that way too.  At first.

I enjoyed sleeping in, showering late, cooking for my wife, reading and watching movies, getting the groceries, practicing drum patterns, all of that.  Yet now that I look back on the time it's easy to see how I could have made more out of it.  Don't get me wrong: I did a lot!  I finished editing my undergrad thesis--something I'd been meaning to do for months!  But do I feel rested now that I'm at the other end of the time?  In some ways, yes.  In others, not really.

Simply having 'no-work' space doesn't automatically make it a space of rest.  We have to choose to holiday.  So often that time of vacation isn't so much about doing nothing as it is about taking the time to rejuvenate.  Rejuvenation comes not from the absence of activity, but from choosing to engage in activities that will restore us.

What are those restorative activities and how can we carve out time to make them a regular part of our lives?

o o o

Thinking about that question triggered another thought.  How can we keep ourselves from thinking only about our rejuvenation?  I mean, we need to take care of ourselves and make healthy choices.  But we also need to help each other.  I was reminded of this in a video clip of Rod Wilson, president of Regent College and professor of psychology and counselling.  He's discussing how we tend to gravitate toward one of those two extremes--thinking only of self and only of others--and how we need a healthy balance.

Given the danger of those two sides: the danger of falling off the side of self-preoccupied, and the danger of falling off the other side--of not even engaging oneself at all--how then spiritually do I function?  Now this is where humility comes in. . . . Humility is not just about Rod's view of Rod, but about Rod's view of Ross and how I conceptualize serving Ross in what I'm doing. . .  Humility is not about my view of myself, it's a way of understanding myself with reference to service.

It's not about me.

So how can we, first, understand this need we have to rejuvenate and take the time to do so regularly for our own health and development; and secondly, how can we seek to foster restorative moments for those around us?

Dare to rejuvenate.  Find that space in your day where you could be doing something that will bring you rest.  Go for a walk, phone an old friend, paint, sing, write, make something, do that thing which you know can restore you--that which makes life's troubles grows smaller (not forgotten, but put in perspective).  Then, having done that, turn around and help someone else to do the same.  We're all in this together!

Be well this weekend,

Nikolas


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