Work, school, social media, TV, hobbies, sports, and on and on and on… pushing through on the non-stop treadmill of life. As I sit here overlooking the truly amazing sunrise once again, I feel like I am finally able to stop and take a breath, and just take in the beauty of God’s creation.
It has been a hectic couple of months (really a year) since I ended the modified sabbatical, and I feel that I’m moving towards burnout again. I didn’t fully let go of everything. But getting away now, 5 days into our trip (in my case, a trip that was postponed from 2020 and 2021), I am finally beginning to disconnect.
One of the things that has been enlightening to me is the amount of time I spend on my phone. I am in a place where I can’t use my phone or internet as it is too expensive, yet the first few days I found myself constantly checking my phone.
Time to disconnect…
Here I am, on vacation, and I have spent many free moments opening my phone to check the different apps to see what is going on. Doesn’t matter that I am away. Instead of observing what is going on right now where I am, I’m looking to see what is going on everywhere else.
I am finally starting to break from the endless phone-checking I did every time my brain stopped taking in stimuli for a nanosecond.
In American culture, it seems like we always have to be doing something. And it isn’t just about work. There has to be something going on at all times. And if we aren’t checking something, we are posting about something, or forwarding something. And it seems like it doesn’t stop until we are forced to take a break.
Trying to cram too much into life…
With all that we try to cram into life, I wonder how much we miss of what God desires to show us because we are living other people’s lives, or we’re so tired that we are missing that which is right in front of us. Isn’t this a part of living in the flesh?
“Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.”
Romans 8:5 NIV
In our constant desire to know what is going on, and in our constant desire to do “everything,” aren’t we desiring to “live in the flesh?”
Time for a reset…
Sometimes we need a reset. And this is how I am viewing this trip. Lord, You have made it clear to me that I need a reset.
You created us with a need for rest. You made it a part of the creation narrative, not because You needed to rest, but because You knew that we did (Genesis 2). I wonder if You made it one of the commandments because You knew that we wouldn’t rest otherwise?
You make it clear that this is important for us, but we fight it, and then we wonder why things are so hard. Forgive me for missing out on so much because I don’t want to miss anything.
Along the Multicolored Road 
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