Do you wish things could just slow down sometimes?
I love Friday nights! I especially love them now that I am back in school. When I was pastoring in my last church I had the wonderful Friday night experience of youth vespers every week. There was a joy there and a rest there as well and I loved creating that space for my students. But now that I am in school again and have Friday nights to myself and my family once again. I have discovered the deep delight of settling in for the night and having time for reflection and a search for God. We really do need this don't we? A time to stop and rest, a sanctuary in time so to speak. When the world just slows down a little. The truth is the rest of the world doesn't really slow down all that muchl. It keeps on spinning. I have found that we can get off the spin cycle if we want to. We can slow down even if everything else does not.
In Titus chapter 2, Paul is encouraging Titus to teach those around him how to have self-controlled lives. He says that when older men and women learn what it means to have self controlled lives then they can mentor those younger men and women around them to have the same. Paul also encourages Titus to live such a life and be an example. He tells Titus to learn how to say, "No!" to worldly passions. What does he mean by the phrase worldly passions or lusts as some translations have it? Is he talking about immorality and sex? Well maybe, the world is pretty sex crazed. But as I thought about it more, the passion of the world seems to have much more to do with getting ahead in live. This might include sex, career, money, the perfect family doing all the perfect things in the perfect SUV, but so busy they never actually see each other.
I wonder if living part of a self controlled life actually has more to do with shaping our priorities enough so we can actually slow down and live. As I slow down tonight I have to say this seems true to me. Sense I have slowed down my activity level and entered into school and study again, I have found time to live deeper and richer. I can still get caught up in school work, but my business has slowed down enough that I can get a restart in the way I look at life. Some things have changed already. I started taking better care of myself physically, eating right and exercising, even attending a health seminar. I have written papers yes, but also found time for an article I have been thinking about for years and I have found time to blog again. Our living expenses have been cut in half and its a good thing we are living more simply.
I know that many of you can't press the reset button on life right now, or at least you feel like you can't. But you can start small. Get off the merry-go-round of the world at least once a week. This is what Sabbath is for. Slow down, breathe, think, pray, and live a little bit better balanced life. Self controlled...hmm...sometimes it takes doing just what the text said. Just...say...no.
No I'm not going to do that extra thing tonight. Sometimes we have to say no in order to be able to say yes to something else.
May we all learn to live self-controlled lives, lives where we can say no, stop, and rest. I pray we would choose to leave the worldly passions behind and live deeper and more richly. Start today, stop right now.
Good thoughts.
ReplyDeleteBTW, this phrase ("stop the world...") was one my great grandmother used all the time.