One thing that has been a pleasant surprise to me this month as I consider rest is how often it comes down to receiving. At the beginning of this month I had planned to share things like ways to create a restful environment, or how to fight for rest and make blank space in your calendar for it. These are all things that are important and take effort at times. But at the beginning of this month I hadn't anticipated just how exhausting the change in my husband's schedule would be for all of us and I quickly found myself in survival mode. So as the month comes to a close and I reflect on the past 29 days I can see time and time again that rest comes when I simply allow it to. As a mom of young children I know for sure that sleep is not merely a matter of accepting an invitation. But what is available is an attitude of rest. I can let my heart and mind rest in the fact that while I'm in survival mode God is not. I can accept my limitations. I can rest in the fact that He is in control. He provides. He cares. He is the good shepherd that leads His sheep...besides still waters...to green pastures.

Tonight I'll leave you with a few "invitations," if you will, from God's word...

Prior to our current home we lived in what we affectionately called The Little Cottage on the Souhegan. I don't write about it much anymore because, well, I loved it.  It was the perfect home for us. We loved the small size, the wide plank wooden floors, the river view that was perfect to soak in with a morning cup of coffee or evening glass of wine.

Now we live "on the seacoast." We drive past strawberry fields to get to the beach. We have two rivers within walking distance from our home, plenty of trails, and a charming community. We fling open the windows as soon as we can and soak in all the warm days. This place is easy to love in the summertime. Honestly, I have nothing to complain about.

With the cold air returning my eyes glance around our current home and I wonder how to recreate some of that...that...whatever it was the cottage had. How to reinvent that in our current space? And what's the word I'm looking for anyway? How can I search for it on Pinterest?

Then I stumbled across ​hygge.

{image via}

That's it. That's what I'm longing for as the days get shorter and the air snaps cold.

I enjoy the description of hygge shared here. Really, just reading about it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.

The other night I cuddled up under a quilt with my little boy who is a bit under the weather. We sat quietly and watched the (fake) flames dance in the faux wood stove. It made me miss the real stove at The Cottage. Then he started describing what he liked about the flames in a surprisingly poetic way for a six year old. Hearing him articulate what he liked about the shapes and colors and movements of the flames took my mind off what once was and held me right there in the moment. That's hygge.

I'm thankful for this strange little word I found. I am thankful for the reminder that it's not only physical elements (and maybe river views and wood stoves) that can bring about this sense of welcome and comfort to a home, but a combination of the right elements strung together and shared at the right times with the right people.