All the things that I do, the things that we all do, are not bad things. They are good things, even things for the common good. We’re holding down jobs, managing households, caring for children and grandchildren, parents and spouses. We’re serving our churches, our communities and our world. We’re bringing sustenance to the sick, giving the neighbor a break on the lawn care, counting the offering after church. Everything is good. Everything is needed. Everything is important. Everything is a lot.
Everything is, perhaps, too much.
Sometimes I think we cram things into our lives like we cram them into a suitcase. But time is not the same thing as space. Everything we do – no matter how good or righteous it is – has a mental cost.
Letting go of responsibilities or even the potential of responsibilities seems counterintuitive. There’s a whole world out there that needs to be saved, right?
Yet, if I say no, I free up space for yes. Jesus drew away to lonely places throughout his ministry – to clear space for what was to come – to rest. I need to follow his model. We all do.
This message is excerpted from “Losing at Mindball” by Susan K. Olson in the November 2015 Gather magazine.
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