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| ps from psSometimes for me, Jesus is amazing/annoying/inspiring all mixed together. “Come away with me and rest…” (Mark 6 and a bunch of other places to his disciples) Makes it seem easy right? Resting. Recovering. Rejuvenating, Sometimes the schedule doesn’t match up though. Sometimes the demands of the day don’t seem to allow it. Sometimes recovery and rest get pushed down the list by things that claim to be more important or that our ego or trauma have elevated. My greatest challenge is recovering from “life stuff” is making/finding/creating time. Or the fallacy that I have to create some new sort of time to make it happen. “Come away” barely fits into the schedule unless it’s time for vacation or an occasional day off. But what if “Come away” is closer than we think? I like to use the second definition of recovery in the Dictionary: the action or process of regaining possession or control of something stolen or lost. Something stolen or lost. Ever feel THAT way?? Recovery is important! Renewal is crucial. Because if we keep allowing things to be lost or stolen, there’s soon nothing left. What I’m finding in Jesus’ invitation is that this “Come away” is not ONLY geographical/physical. It’s spiritual. It’s emotional. It’s mental. It’s INTENTIONAL. He asking the disciples all the time to be more intentional about following him, loving others, taking time and finding space so that they will be able to recover what is missing. And also realize what has actually been there the whole time!! When I’m training and I run a “recovery run,” I don’t go away to a separate bike path or road. I run the same streets and miles that I usually do. But my intention is different. My intention is to come away and recover what was lost, used up and void. My intention is about healing, mindfulness and sacred space. And all the while, my geography didn’t have to change a bit. Yours doesn’t either. You can “Come away” and recover right where you are. There’s many ways to do it. Jesus offered his disciples a ton of options. The one I offer you today is: Thankfulness. We just saw it happen a couple weeks back for Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving heals us. It invites us to focus on the blessings we have and the blessings we can share. But Thanksgiving doesn’t need to just be a day. It can be a mindset. It can be a recovery run…right where you are. Today. The only thing is takes is intention. I had the privilege to sit with someone last week that is going through lung cancer treatments. We got talking about how thankful they were, even through all of these hardships and treatments they were facing. Were they tired? Absolutely. But still thankful. As we were talking, they coughed a couple times due to the illness. But after regaining stability, they looked at me and said: “See! I’m still coughing. If I’m coughing, I’m alive! And that’s why I’m thankful!” In Latin, it is said: dum spiro spero – “While I breathe, I hope” Today I invite you to recover! Recover through a few moments of thankfulness. Set your intentions to come away into that space. You might have a way you want to do it. Great. If not, here’s an option. Contact the following five people and text/email/call them to tell them you’re thankful for them. 1. Close friend you haven’t talked to in while 2. Family member 3. Someone that taught you…anything 4. Someone that works for good in the world 5. Someone that might need some encouragement. And if you really want to go crazy, write them a note with paper and pen. Remember those? So come away. Recover. Set your intention for thankfulness. And allow healing to occur. Lord, thanks for invite me to come away for recovery. Amen Be well, safe and blessed, ps |
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