I have come to know that life with all of its' to-do lists and better-get-it-done-today lists will continue to spin regardless of if I try to keep up or not.
It is a cruel joke to think that activity and business equal growth and progress.
This last week I had the incredible opportunity to steal away for a few days with my beautiful bride and some friends to a destination far from normal. To be honest I thought I was doing pretty good at making time to unplug, but what I quickly found at 33,000 feet was that I wasn't.
After reaching our cruising altitude I grabbed my Bible and set out to spend some time reading through the story of Jesus' life. As I was reading about the pace of Jesus' life and ministry I quickly found myself wrestling with the still small voice of God. I found myself staring out the window at blue skies above, cotton white clouds beside, and green grass below, listening and conversing with a good God who is crazy about me.
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
The still small voice was there reminding me of a lesson that God and I have been working on for some time, resting. I am amazed at how hard I have to work at resting. For me my body was on vacation and beginning to rest, but my mind and emotions were far from resting, they were in chaos to say the least.
To be still and know that He is God requires every fiber of my body to actively engage with the process of intimately knowing His character and goodness.
I was challenged by God with this idea. He said "JD you have physically been disengaging from the normal routines but you have not been mentally and emotionally disengaging from the normal. You must disengage all three from normal, and reengage all three with me to truly find rest."
I love it when He speaks so clearly and so lovingly.
As the next few days progressed I found myself learning that disengaging does not simply happen because you are no longer in proximity to the normal. You must actively disengage your entire being, and for me that is still a very hard thing to do. The beautiful thing about this true idea of resting is that my proximity to normal doesn't have to change. Of course vacation and traveling are some of my favorite things, but the reality is that a cup of coffee at the local coffee shop can be just as refreshing if I can learn how to mentally and emotionally actively disengage from normal.
If I can't learn to disengage, then I will miss enjoying slow moments watching my beautiful bride dip her ivory toes into warm crystal clear water, and that is something I will regret when the normal returns.