Rest • Reflect • Restore • Recharge • Reset Focus • Restart In a culture that glorifies constant output, endless busyness, and packed schedules, getting genuinely renewed can feel like a rare luxury. Yet we were never designed to run on empty. From the very beginning, God built a rhythm of rest into creation – offering […]
The world is heating up. Do you wonder why? There are lots of culprits that are cited – cars, carbon and cows could begin the list. Perhaps it could justly continue with politicians, population and pride. Will the list end with the greed of nations, peoples and individuals like us, like you, like me? Are we bringing it upon ourselves and find we cannot change our all-consuming behaviour that devours not only the earth’s resources but all those ‘others’ who stand in the way of our corporate and personal consumption? Can it be any surprise that there are consequences from personal, national and world behaviour? It’s no good eye-balling the next cow you meet and trying to shift the responsibility on to her because of our milk or meat consumption! The world is heating up and we all have to consider our personal responsibility. Young people and scientists are sounding the alarm – it is a wake-up call in more ways that we might imagine.
There are many types of ‘lockdown’ but in all of them there is no escaping the time of waiting. Even before you are born, your mum and other people were waiting for you! The young can’t wait to grow up and gain their independence. The old find they have to wait for everyone else to do things for them as they progressively lose their independence and sense of value. We usually wait for something that matters to us and in doing so give that ‘something’ meaning. It might be waiting for the bus, the answer to a proposal, the job offer, the operation … or even the exam to start, to stop or to get the result! There’s lots of waiting in every part of life and we can do it with expectation or dread, with patience or impatience and with trust or in fear. How do you wait? What are you waiting for in this phase of your life? Some are waiting for rescue and others to die. We always seem to be waiting – even gardeners wait!
There are some who find it easy to rest and some who don’t – we all know which category a domestic cat falls into but what about you? Is it ‘time to rest’ or can you not find ‘time to rest’? Many of us struggle to be still and spend much of life busy chasing our tails and wonder where all the time has gone!
‘What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.
