One of the greatest returns on the investment of rest during vacation with my family is the seemingly insignificant lawn chair conversations. Often so casual, their richness can be missed.

Sitting with a wet beach towel around my waist, face tilted toward the sun drenched sky, I peek through the side of my sunglasses toward the sound of slow footsteps. My Grandmother pads through the overgrown lawn laced in gilded dandelions, hunkers down in a chair beside me, rests her chin on the outside of her lazy fist. We sit spread out in silence, batting the black flies off our ankles, and watch the kids wade into the still lake.

And then, like releasing the kink in a garden hose her words uncoil. “You know, people have more things to save them time than ever before – microwaves, cell phones, and computers – and yet, they have less time than they’ve ever had.”

I couldn’t do anything but nod my head and think.

Join me at The High Calling today for the rest of the story on Books on Faith, a discussion from The Sabbath World: Glimpses of a Different Order of Time by Judith Schulevitz. I’ll meet you there in the comments.