eastertide rest

This post is a part of my 2017 Lenten Bread Series. Click here to see the series in its entirety.

Thank you to everyone who joined me in my Lenten bread baking adventure. I was overwhelmed by the support that I received throughout the process and amazed by the number of people who followed along all the way through.

On Good Friday—the only day that I missed a post—I sat around a bonfire with a group of ladies from my church reflecting on the season.

“I always head into Lent with high hopes for all that I will work through and accomplish in the season,” said one friend. “But Lent really becomes meaningful about halfway through, when I fail at my fasting and I see God take over in the teaching process.”

Everyone around the fire nodded in agreement—one woman’s Lenten commitment to stop smoking was derailed with the death of a former coworker, another’s anxiety was heightened by a family medical emergency. I too experienced the mid-Lent slump when I began to question if I should actually finish out my series. Three posts each week became tiresome, and I questioned if anyone would really care if I missed a post.

But I’d made a commitment, so I posted whatever came to mind.

In those last few weeks, when I began writing out of my exhaustion rather than following a plan, God began to take over the teaching process. I stopped closely editing my words, I rushed through the process, I just wanted to make it through to the end—and countless people began telling me how deeply they were touched by the topics covered. I too found myself transformed by the commitment to writing, pinpointing the places where I was lazy and in need of initiative, and also where I was over-committed and in need of rest.

This Lent, I felt Christ’s power made perfect in my weakness.

The forty days of Lent are proceeded by fifty days of Eastertide—a celebration of feasting that carries on until Pentecost.

I’ve found this Eastertide that I am in need of rest—a break from blogging and social media. After seven weeks of consistently publishing my daily writing, it’s time for me to spend more restful time writing without the immediate goal of sharing my thoughts with the world.

So for the next month, I’ll be taking a break from my online presence to dig into some larger reading, writing, and baking projects I’ve had in mind for quite some time.

Thank you all for following along with me, and thank you ahead of time for your understanding in my break. I look forward to returning to you all refreshed and ready to continue exploring food and faith together.