Much of my adult life has been spent living at too fast a pace — little sleep, less rest, and an incessant demand to keep moving. Boredom was a cardinal sin. Wasting time was both cowardly and irresponsible. Dare to do something, anything, just don't be idle.

Some of that is good. Some of it is habit and conditioning. A lot of it is sick.

We live in a fast-paced age where silence is taboo and motionlessness is sinful. Rest, especially resting when we are awake, is something seldom valued. Gone are the virtues of contemplation, meditation, and resting in the Lord's presence and grace.

How did we get this way? Is it too much caffeine? Is it over-stimulation from so much visual input? Is it a culture we get sucked into adopting?

Jesus withdrew from people, places, and pace to rest and be alone with God and his disciples. How can we not?

The Psalms, our well-spring of God-talk and Spirit-song, come from a contemplated life reflected in moments of holy and honest pauses in the presence of the King of Glory.

We rush around with our PDA's full of appointments and go-do lists filled with more than is humanly possible to achieve while hauling our kids around to an insane number of extra-curricular activities and in the process imprint them with the same manic neuroses we have.

So let me ask just a few simple questions for us all. There will be no answers, just a few questions.

What if we rested more?

What if we rested and understood it as resting in the presence and grace of God?

What if we dedicated this resting time to him — to know him and to be known by him?

What if we saw our delays in traffic, our boring moments, and those dead spaces in our time as opportunities to pause and rest in God's grace?

How can we not?
Jesus says to us:

Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. (Matthew 11:28-29 NRSV)

Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while. (Mark 6:31 NRSV)

Am I taking time to listen to his voice?