Two weeks ago, for the first time in years, I laid down in a hammock, and I was reminded just how wonderful hammocks are. It was so wonderful, that I ordered my very own hammock and stand before getting out of the hammock I was in. You see, I can get pretty overwhelmed sometimes. Overwhelmed with my own thoughts, with work, with worry, with medical stuff, with to do lists, with life, and with the world in general. Sometimes I just need to take a break from it all and go lay down for a few minutes to reset my brain, body, and soul. Laying down in my bed or on my couch can be helpful, but it takes a while for me to settle my mind and body (even with a weighted blanket to help). However, laying down in a hammock is almost an immediate reset for me. Why? The hammock completely wraps around you. It holds you. There’s pressure, there’s swinging/swaying, and the material cocoons around you so that the rest of the world seems to just disappear.
I think I connect so much to this hammock time because one of my favorite ways to pray when I’m feeling overwhelmed about something is NOT to pray for a specific outcome, but instead to pray that I feel God’s presence, love, support, and strength wrapping around me and holding me tight (or even sometimes holding me up). Crawling into the hammock two weeks ago felt like that prayer to me. You see, I was headed for a medical procedure the following week that I was really anxious about, and the hammock helped me to relax and breathe.
When my new hammock and stand arrived (with its awesome carrying case), I decided to take it with me to my parent’s house so that I could rest in it during my procedure recovery. My dad chuckled and said it was “completely unnecessary” for me to set up a hammock in his living room…and yet once my mom got in the hammock and tried it out, she fully understood how “necessary” it really was.
My procedure recovery has gone well (maybe because of the hammock time), and I’m back home now and the hammock now lives in my living room. The hammock’s presence in my living room is “completely necessary” because each day I find time to crawl into my new hammock, and it’s there that I am physically reminded of God’s presence all around me, holding me tight and supporting me.
So now the question is…when you are feeling overwhelmed, where do you most feel God’s presence and support wrapped around you? Maybe try some hammock time and see what you think!
