The Joy of Creating a Restorative Life Style
With the busyness of life it is imperative to anchor yourself to life-giving rhythms, building daily habits that nurture the core of your wellbeing. Being able to rejuvenate our head, heart, body and soul is a skill. Nature makes it easy. Purposeful time in nature will renew your mind, recharge your body and lift your spirit. Let me tell you about a daily rhythm that I call a Sit Spot.
A Sit Spot is a destination to spend time alone with God in nature. It can be a boulder, a rock, a tree to lean against, a stump to sit on, a tree fort to climb up to, it can be by a bubbling brook, a gentle stream, a roaring river, on a mountain top, at the beach on a dock, in the woods, or merely on a bench, a rocking chair, a hammock or a swing. Preferably it will have a view of the sun rising should you choose to begin your day anticipating this display of God’s faithfulness. It should be a place of quiet, of peace and far away from distractions.
Jesus had sit spots…. He sets the example when time and again He would get up before dawn and hike to a lonely place away from the demanding crowds to be alone with His Father. “Jesus frequently withdrew to the wilderness to pray.” Luke 5:16
As much as I’d like to have hiked with the Lord in those early morning hours to see what boulder He chose to sit on or tree to lean against, it occurred to me that He gets to go with me to all of my Sit Spots…every day!
At day break, Jesus went out to a solitary place." Luke 4:42
"A Sit Spot is a destination to spend time alone with God in nature."
On our acre I have created many sit spots to just sit and observe. A bench near my garden is a favorite place to watch the vegetables grow, a hammock in the deep woods is perfect for an afternoon nap or just to watch the sky change color… but my favorite sit spots take a little hiking to get to and are off the beaten path where I can find solitude with God…and Max.
Sit Spot Activities
Sit Spot in the Pasture
The year was 2011, my boys were grown and leaving home, I was battling depression and cluelessness as to what the future held. In desperation I cried out to God for guidance and He highlighted Psalm 46:5 to my soul “The Lord her God is in her midst, she will not be moved, the Lord will meet her when morning dawns.” So the next day my collie, Skipper, and I were up well before dawn and climbed the cow fence to watch the sunrise and thus began my daily habit of a Sit Spot. Skipper would scrunch under the barbed wire fence and I’d climb over the cow gate to sit in solitude anticipating the dawning of a new day. Eventually, Skipper’s arthritic old haunches could no longer maneuver the fence and he would sit as close to me as he could on the other side of the cow gate. Jason fixed that problem by creating a sit spot on our side of the cow fence to watch the sunrise with Skipper laying by my side. The next day we heard the busy cacophony of chainsaws and heavy machinery across the valley and sat incredulous as the woods directly across from our perch were being systematically cleared and hauled off to lumberyards. The lessons I learned from staring at the devastation of animal habitats and the loss of those enormous hardwoods only deepened with each passing year and all are recorded in my many journals where I detail God moments and lessons He imparts to me in nature.
During the next phase of my life my sit spot was on top of the mountain above my mother’s home a mile away as the crow flies. Mom needed round the clock care and so I spent most days and many nights there with her. After I had taken care of Mom I would drive the golfcart up to the mountain top to get alone with God and be renewed in the embrace of His creation. It was to this Sit Spot that I went when Jason called from a hospital in Bern Switzerland to tell me that we had to let our son Brian go because the MRI revealed no brain activity and the machines that kept him breathing would never fix his beautiful brain. That story I shared with my Wild Blessings family in a Teaching Tuesday class if you want to hear the details of how God used His creation to comfort my broken heart.
My Tree
After my Mom went on to her eternal reward I continued my sit spot habit but now the time was spent on my mountain at the base of an enormous Tulip Poplar in a timeless forest above our home. Max and I would retreat deep into the thickness surrounded by smooth Beech trees, colorful Maples, tall arrow like Poplars and gnarly Oaks. We found this one tree that had a flat base extending from it’s arm like roots the perfect invitation to sitting on the earth leaning against it’s strong trunk and feeling a oneness with the landscape. No one ever walked those woods but us. Max loved to sniff in every hole, run the length of each fallen log, chase balls down the hill and up again to our ‘spot’ until he was sufficiently worn out and for a Jack Russell that takes a bit of doing. Ramps, Violets, Wild Ginger, Solomon Seal, Black and Blue Cohosh, Mouse Ear Chickweed blanketed the shaded forest floor of those magnificent trees and kept me fascinated as I learned more, gathered more and relished this slice of heaven. I loved the way the woods were literally 10 degrees cooler on hot days and was the perfect place to retreat to to be alone with God. 3 years later, machines rolled in and began a 3 mile clear cut of my magical forest, Warzone #2 I nicknamed it. October 19, 2017 my tree was felled and along with it a slice of my heart. Max and I would go back to visit the stump until the blackberry brambles made it impossible to navigate the hillside to our ‘spot’.
Life Changing Habits
My White Rock
It’s always wise to have a few sit spots to go to depending on what time of day you are taking a stroll. I loved the woods for the shelter on hot Summer days, but I loved the open pasture on the hillside opposite our home where I could get an amazing view of the sunrise. Halfway down the mountain was a lone white rock with a table like back, a nice flat sit spot with the height perfect for my feet to be grounded in the soil. The cows had stopped grazing there in 2012 and I found it fascinating to see how quickly the tree saplings grew up transforming the pasture into millions of growing Poplar trees, Maples, Oaks, Buckeyes… I created a hiking habit that went along the fence, down to the mother Pine tree, through countless Blackberry brambles past beautiful waving Pompous grass, and just beyond a lone Hawthorn there was my white rock. Even though this new sit spot was not hidden but open for any who cared to look up the mountainside, it was a refuge for me and it felt like I was in a bubble of beauty and pleasures that I could never tire of. Watching the Poplars terminal leaf buds unfold like Valentines day cards in that iridescent Spring green, gathering Blackberries along the path when they were finally ripe enough, picking Yarrow, BlackEyed Susans, Queen Anne’s Lace for bouquets to give to brighten someones day or our kitchen table, hiking those paths in the snow, in the ice, in the rain, on windy days, at night to view the stars that appeared to be low enough to touch, and all the sunrises Max and I beheld on that rock….
Between the Locust Trees
April 2018, Max and I were hunting along the hillside for Praying Mantis sacs to put in my vegetable garden, something white caught my eye. Another white rock, completely encased in brambles, barberries, wild rose bushes…I cut away what I could to get a better look. Convinced I had found another sit spot Jason helped me weedwhack the area and free the rocks from the stranglehold of growth. It was only 20 feet from the cow fence that lined the road in front of our house but the mature trees that lined the fence blocked the view of my new haven of rest. It didn’t take long to weedwhack a zig zag path that connected the white rock below to my new sit spot completing a circuit along the fence, through the blackberry patch, past the mother Pine, the pompous grass, the Hawthorn, my white rock, then up the hill past a Holly bush, a few baby Pines and countless fast growing saplings to this new spot under two beautiful Locust saplings. As the Spring burst forth the lacy Locust crowns it provided the perfect amount of shade on hot Summer days. Max and I planted countless edible plants all along the paths: dandelions, Jerusalem Artichokes, Milkweed, Teasel, Day Lilies, Comfrey, Evening Primrose, Ironweed, Joe Pye Weed…. Each bulb or seed planted knowing the promise of what life was held within. I began planting flowers from my mom’s garden all around my sit spot so as I sat there each day I could observe the nuances one more day of sunlight would bring to burst forth life and color. Mom’s Peace Rose was a particular joy to sit next to as she found such joy in her roses. I poked Elder cuttings in strategic places looking forward to their delicate white umbels and black berries. False Indigo, Irises, Echinacea, Daisies, Lambsear, Mullein… purples, yellows, blues, sage greens, white, pink… Something colorful in every season. Even without the transplanted beauty the Mayapples, Violets, Blackeyed Susans, Goldenrod, Yarrow were enough to rejoice the heart. Every season has it’s gifts of beauty and sustenance and is there to be noticed and rejoiced in.
December 2023 the mountainside across from our home sold and the new owners asked that Max and I stay off of their land. They gave me a few days to dig up my mom’s flowers and remove my sit spot treasures. It felt like my heart would break for the loss of these sacred destinations so close and yet no longer attainable. My wild kids helped me fashion a new Hiking Habit along my side of the fence which enabled me to still enjoy the trees that lined the fence line. Walking that new path has been a blessing but is not safe for a Jack Russel as Max is exposed to the road and any neighboring dogs but I’ll take what I can get!! Also I began spending more time on my acre and gardening with Max tied up to keep him safe. The bench by my white oak is where I watch the sunrise.
