Walk, Don't Run

Here I am noticing I haven’t blogged for a good several weeks.  I know a few of you follow these pages of digital script.  I apologize for not getting back here sooner.  Please forgive me.  Here it is already that time of year when we look back over our shoulder and exclaim, “Where did summer go?!” 

Funny how these long sunshiny days get away from us, huh…  Or maybe it’s sad actually?  All winter we hibernate, peaking out through the blinds only occasionally to see if spring has sprung.  We poke our noses out the door and sniff – warm rain, berry blossoms, growing grass, cottonwood seeds – and breathe out.  Ahhhh, we can emerge.  Life can run again…and run it does, faster even.    

Almost without notice, the summer solstice slips past us.  Then July 4^th BBQ’s, picnics, weddings, birthdays, they all sneak by, and in an instant August is knocking at the door!  Then back-to-school.  Sheesh!  Kinda pitiful, huh?

Well, remember when we were kids and we’d arrive at the playground or the campsite or church or the grocery store or wherever, and we’d throw open the heavy car door and bolt for whatever looked interesting?

Do you remember what Mom would holler as we ran wildly across the gravel or the paved parking lot toward the 20 foot metal slide or the climbing tree or the brick-laid flower planter or the shopping cart return? 

Remember the commanding parental warning that came from somewhere behind you:  Walk, don’t run!

Maybe we need, during these fast paced summertime days, to heed Mom’s wisdom?  You catch what I mean?

I was thinking again about this last week as I was studying the theme of Sabbath for a message I preached Sunday.  (The points from the message are captured in a series of posts from last summer called:  Vacation Undone.)  What if we took a whole day; a full 24 hours, out of each week for the rest of summer to slow down…to walk, not run?

Maybe it could look like this:   

·         Pick the day.  Try starting on the evening before a day you already have off.  For many folks that means Saturday evening.  Though, I know for some of you weekends are “work-ends” and your days off land in the middle of the week.  Either way, make it fit.

·         Power Down.  Your computer – let it rest…let the hum of the fan cease and desist.  Your Smartphone – adjust the setting so facebook and email notifications aren’t popping up.  Unplug the power strip that has your TV, DVD/Blue ray, video game console, etc. plugged into it.  Turn off flashing screens of your life a bit.
   

·         Pray.  Nothing long or profound.  You’re not bending God’s ear here.  If you’ve already turned off your life, God has likely already noticed you’re gearing up for something different.

·         Feast.  Start with a meal together…with people you love and who love you; family or friends.  Maybe spend time together preparing the meal.  Make is a favorite meal and make lots of it.  Aim for feast.

·         Play.  Not what you’d think…  Keep motorized big boy toys in the shop.  Try a board game or card game together.  Make hot drinks if it’s cold and cold drinks if it’s hot.  The goal here is to coax a smile back onto your face. 

·         Read.  Ease your way toward bedtime by reading the Bible a bit.  Read it together with others if possible; again, family or friends.  Pick something familiar that helps remind you of who God is and what He’s done.  Don’t pick something new that needs to be studied or has a bunch of questions associated with it.  Pick something you can fall asleep meditating on…

·         Sleep.  Then go to sleep…  God has things under control.  Amazingly God runs the universe while we sleep in total unproductiveness.

·         Wake up.  But don’t jump out of bed.  Take just a minute when you open your eyes and while you’re still lying in bed to ask God what he’s been up to while you were sleeping.  Join Him in what He’s already doing instead of lining out your own agenda.

·         Rest.  This isn’t a nap.  Remember, you just woke up.  Do something that “rests” you, or what we may call “relaxes” you.  Go for a run.  Sit on your deck or porch.  Water some plants.  Enjoy your coffee without doing make-up or reading the news paper.  (Resist the newspaper for a day…especially the Sunday paper that weighs in at 10 times the weight of the daily because of the printed materialism.)

·         Prepare.  If it’s Sunday morning now, prepare for enough time to get the whole household ready for church without rushing.  Be sure to sit down for breakfast.  Don’t eat while you get ready.  Receive the meal as provision.  If it is another day, similarly prepare for enough time to get the whole household ready for whatever you may have planned for the day.

·         Give.  Again, if it’s Sunday, go to a local church.  Get there early.  Talk to others who are there early about anything but work and weather.  Be personal.  Ask what “good” means when you ask how their doing and they reply with “Good, how are you?”  Give yourself away.  Chose a different seat.  Relieve an usher.  Clean up bulletins afterward.  If it’s another day besides Sunday, look around your neighborhood.  Who has needs that they can’t meet themselves?  Give yourself away to their needs.  (I call this one “give” because we spend so much of the rest of our lives “taking.”  Even in worship on Sunday’s we all too often consume more than we contribute.)

·         Lighten up.  After church, or simply in the afternoon, prepare a simple and light lunch.  Sit down and eat.  Plan to leave the table without that feeling of being full.  Be reminded that billions of people around the world are not full either.  Offer a prayer of thanksgiving.  Read some scripture on God’s provision or on thankfulness.  

·         Get out.  Later, go on a journey; find some adventure.  Maybe go for a walk in a park.  Pick someplace public with trails and some wooded areas.  Avoid the playground area.  Seek out the area that is quiet.  As you walk, listen.  If you have kids, teach them to listen.  Pray as you walk, thank God for the gift of creation.  Six days he created the universe and here you are in the midst of a morsel of that universe on the seventh day.  As you pass people, greet them with a smile and a kind word.  Allow this time to last as long as you need.

·         Pray.  Finally, end your day how you began, in prayer.  Maybe have a devotional time together with those you love before dinner.  Answer the question:  What was the best part of this time for you?  And don’t forget to take time somewhere in there to plan the next time you’ll do this. 

Now, this is not a formula.  Make it fit you and your family or friends.  You see the principles of each point surface, I know you do.

As well, it’s not an assignment.  I bet if you did it though, you wouldn’t regret it.  I bet you’ll enter the day thinking about all the things you could be doing or the things you’ll miss out on.  But, I bet you’ll exit the day having missed nothing at all. 

Finally, two quotes.  The former carries more authority than the latter.  Both, however, express our need to walk, not run…

“Are you tired?  Worn out?  Burned out on religion?  Come to me.  Get away with me and you’ll recover your life.  I’ll show you how to take a real rest.  Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it.  Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.  I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you.  Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live feely and lightly.” – Jesus, Matt. 11:25-30 (The Message)

“He who wants to enter the holiness of the day must first lay down the profanity of clattering commerce, of being yoked to toil.  He must go away from the screech of dissonant days, from the nervousness and fury of acquisitiveness and the betrayal in embezzling his own life.  He must say farewell to manual work and learn to understand that the world has already been created and will survive without the help of man.  Six days a week we wrestle with the world, wringing profit from the earth; on the Sabbath we especially care for the seed of eternity planted in the soul.  The world has our hands, but our soul belongs to Someone Else.”  - Abraham Joshua Heschel (The Sabbath)