Skip to main content

Our culture these days is defined by quantity, noise, and speed. While a few countercultural movements exist, for the most part, we live for more, louder, and faster. We want more (and faster) technology, more clothes, more food, more money. We fill our schedules to the brim and can’t even stand in a line or go to the bathroom without pulling out our phones to make sure we haven’t missed something. We live with the perpetual noise, whether TV, radio, or music. The consequence of all of this is a sort of frenetic agitation and an inability to slow down, be quiet, and catch our breath.

This week let’s catch our breath. Let’s slow down, take our time, reflect, and worship together. We can turn down the volume on the world and hopefully turn up the volume of the Spirit. We will regain perspective and recapture joy. Too many of us have forgotten what it feels like to be unrushed and at peace. For some of us, this may initially feel uncomfortable as we disconnect from all the things we are always connected to. That is okay. Embrace the discomfort.

Henri Nouwen said, “In the spiritual life, the word discipline means ‘the effort to create some space in which God can act.’ Discipline means to prevent everything in your life from being filled up. Discipline means that somewhere you’re not occupied, and certainly not preoccupied. In the spiritual life, discipline means to create that space in which something can happen that you hadn’t planned or counted on.”

Richard Swenson added, “We must have some room to breathe. We need the freedom to think and permission to heal. Our relationships are being starved to death by velocity. No one has the time to listen, let alone love. Our children lay wounded on the ground, run over by our high-speed good intentions. Is God now proexhaustion? Doesn’t He lead people beside the still waters anymore?”

Let’s learn to breathe again.

Join the discussion One Comment

Share This
%d bloggers like this: