THey say you always preach the sermon you need to hear. I really don't believe that to be true, but I do think that it happens from time to time. As I plan out what I will preach this Sunday (title BUsy-ness and Prayer). I know that this is one of those times.
The sermon is shaping up to be about the need to get out of the trap of needing to always be doing, to always be productive, and take time to simply be. The need to take time working on relationghip with GOd. THe need to recharge, in essence the need for Sabbath time.
Now I never claim to always be productive (seldom productive on some days) but I know that I don't do a great job of the relationship building, on the recharging, on the Sabbath stuff. I fill my time. THat is why I like the need to walk the dog. For that 30 minutes (on average) I am not doing anything. My mind is free to go whither it will--I got a good start on at least one devotional on a walk. I may not formally pray but it is Sabbath time. It is time when I can stop and breathe the clear air, or look at the fresh snow, or pause to watch the river. It is a chore that needs doing but I am also learning that it is a gift.
This somehow reminded me of the time a few years ago when I took my six-year-old granddaughter to Alaska. From Homer (about as far west as you can go in a car on this continent) we took a helicopter across the bay to a place where there were no houses, no roads, and no people.
ReplyDeleteThat night sitting on a rock at the foot of a glacier, she said, "Shhh! Listen!"
"Listen to what?" I asked.
"The quiet," she said.
It had beeen so long since I'd truly heard the quiet I almost had forgotten what it sounded like.