June 17, 2020

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest awhile” – Mark 6:31

There are several places in scripture where Jesus withdraws away from the crowds and pressure of being Jesus to pray, recharge, and renew. Even though he was God, he was also human; and he needed to find time to rest so that he could do those things he needed to do effectively. He needed to find time to rest his human body so that he wouldn't burn out and give up. The interesting thing for us to remember here is that even God rested on the seventh day. Both Jesus' humanity and divinity needed to rest every so often.

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she suggested that maybe it was time for me to take a rest.

I went back through the calendar and discovered that I have written a Daily Meditation almost every day since March 15, excluding most Sundays and the time Dcn. Sue took over. As we were talking, I said something about my brain being empty. To which she said, “So take a break.”

I started writing these meditations as ways for you all to remain hopeful and connected. I wanted to offer a piece of light and certainty in a time when things seemed dark and uncertain. I hope I did that.

But now, after three months of almost daily writing, my brain feels empty. It's not writer's block so much as it is writer's fatigue. I'm tired. And the pressure to write daily has now outweighed the ability to produce. So after wrestling with this, I've decided to stop writing daily meditations.

I know this may come as a shock to some of you who have looked forward to, and maybe relied on, these little daily messages, and I'm sorry for that. I suppose I could have begun the process by whittling down from daily to three times a week to twice a week to none, but I probably would've forgotten to write at all.

So I'm going away to a deserted place, at least as far as the Daily Meditations are concerned. The Wednesday Word will still happen. We will still look for ways to stay connected, stay calm, and stay church. The people making phone calls will continue to do so. I will continue to call people on birthdays and anniversaries. And we will continue to work to keep everyone updated with where we are in regards to COVID and how we're handling it. But it's now time to take a rest from daily writing.

We all need to take time to rest every so often. During everything that is and has been going on, I hope you are also finding time to rest.

Be well,