Hello friends,
This is Mark Gladman,
Also known as Brother Frederick James,
Your friendly neighbourhood monk in dogs.
Welcome back to another episode in our series.
Stay here.
Have you ever noted that there's moments in the Gospels when Jesus looks at the disciples and sees that they're tired?
It's so beautiful and so ordinary.
They've been busy,
People are coming and going,
So much happening that they haven't had time to eat.
And Jesus notices and in Mark 6,
He says to them,
Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest.
A while.
What a line!
I love that Jesus notices.
Before he asks them to do anything else,
He notices that they're tired.
And maybe that's something we don't notice about ourselves and we forget.
We become so accustomed to being busy that we don't even recognize our own exhaustion.
We keep going.
One more thing,
One more email,
One more task,
One more conversation,
And somewhere along the way,
Rest becomes something we promise that we'll get to eventually.
When everything else is finished.
But everything else is really finished.
There's always another thing.
But Jesus says,
Come away.
And then.
.
.
Rest a while.
That's the cruelest phrase.
A while.
No,
No,
It's not forever.
So you're not escaping anything here.
Just long enough to stop.
Long enough to breathe and to remember that you are more than the things that you do and the things that you produce and the things that you accomplish.
You are more than that.
Rest is a part of being human.
So wherever you are right now,
Give yourself permission to do less.
For these few minutes,
You don't need to do or achieve or produce anything.
Prayer,
Reflection,
Meditation,
Contemplation.
It's not about being productive.
You don't have to come away.
With some deep insight or even feel peaceful,
Just rest.
Take a deep breath in.
Let it out.
That's your shoulders drop.
Unclench your hands and let them rest.
That your breathing find its own rhythm.
Bring your mind,
Your body and your heart fully into alignment in this space now.
And if your mind starts telling you about everything you may have to do,
Don't argue with it,
Just notice it and say,
Mm-mm.
It's time for those things,
But right now?
Rest a while.
And maybe imagine Jesus saying those words directly to you.
But don't hear it as an instruction,
Hear it as an invitation.
Come away.
Rest the wall.
You're allowed to stop because you're human.
And maybe there's something else important here too.
Jesus doesn't send the disciples away alone.
He invites them to come away with him.
And so in the Christian tradition,
It's not about.
.
.
Learning how to do more things for God,
But learning how to be with God.
Sometimes doing something,
But sometimes doing nothing.
Going nowhere,
Just resting.
So for the next couple of minutes,
Let yourself be unproductive,
Let yourself be unfinished,
Let yourself simply be.
There's nowhere you need to get to,
Nothing you need to accomplish,
Just this moment,
This breath.
Just come away.
And rest a while.
And stay.
Here.
You and when you're ready.
Return to your day.
But don't rush off.
Carry this little bit of spaciousness with you.
Don't let it dissolve into busyness straight away.
Jesus says,
Come away and rest a while.
And maybe today,
You can.
All you have to do.
Is stay here.
Grace,
Peace and love be with your friends.
Until tomorrow.
Bye for now.
You
