come away to a quiet place and rest

“Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and rest.” Mark 6:31

What exactly have we lost in our obsession with always ‘doing’? What poverty of spirit and life have we created in our hurried and driven lives? Much has been lost but the life we live does not and will not permit us to realize it or awaken to the possibility that there is another life than can be lived: a life lived with a heart alive.

Our awareness of all of life has gradually dulled. In our current way of life there is no time to reflect because there is always more and more to do. There is more and more always expected of us by more and more people who want it done faster and faster. In fact, many of us don’t live our own lives; our lives are directed, like puppets, by our own worldly culture and by the demands of others. We lack the courage to put an end to it; to put this wounded life out of its misery.

There should be some expectation for the general unbelieving world to act like this, but it seems that much of Christianity has jumped in and joined forces with the world in its quest for greatness and desire to be significant and leave a legacy. All of us have a desire to matter and do meaningful work. God is the only one who can give this. Only God can give us purpose and meaning; and help us leave a legacy, which is to have been wholly his. But somewhere in it all, it seems we are not satisfied with this. Maybe we know it but we don’t necessarily believe it; we act like we don’t know it. Our quest is live out on our own terms and create our own legacy.

It also seems as if we, as ministers of Jesus Christ, should be calling people out of this worldly culture with its neurotic pace and constant noise to a place of rest; into a Sabbath.

Instead of giving those in our care, in our churches more to do, more programs to get involved in, more meetings to attend, perhaps we should lead them to a place of rest—a place of abiding. (John 15) Perhaps we should share what Jesus said to his disciples: “come away …by yourselves to a quiet place and rest.”