Our son who has a two-engine plane took his wife and two children on a three day out-of-state trip during the Fourth of July week-end. I called, expecting to hear a relaxed voice. Instead, I heard a tense and anxious voice. I said, “How was your little trip?” “Oh, it was fine. The weather was good. [Weather is a primary concern to a pilot.] We saw the people we wanted to see. I took Dave and Jim on an air tour over the mountains with an occasional swoop into the valley. We took pictures of the farm and granddad’s old home from the plane.”
I said, “I’m glad your trip was safe and fulfilling. Now you’re back and ready to go again.” “Oh, Dad,” he said, “as soon as I came home and saw this place, I said, “Oh! do I have to come back to all this now?’ “ (He’s self-employed has his own auto body shop.) “I’ve got three jobs waiting for me out there. It was good, but it wasn’t long enough! I need to get away from here!”
Does that sound like something you have heard? Does it sound like something you have said? Or, if you haven’t said it, have you thought it and felt it?
One way or another, we all feel the demands of life. You have deadlines to meet, quotas to fulfill, destinations to reach. Being ambitious, you expect to be busy. And when you are surrounded by colleagues and superiors and clients, you feel a certain pressure to keep busy. Then, think of all that competes for your time and energy after you leave your work place: telephone solicitations, television advertisers, door-to-door drives; sorting invitations to exhibits, lectures, travel opportunities, dinners, meetings, books, plays, movies, concerts; letters to read and to write, newspapers. Where does it end?
You serve on community boards YMCA/YWCA, Education, the church commission, this committee and that. Late Saturday night, when you are relaxing without any thoughts of responsibility, someone calls and asks you to be a Reader or Usher or sub a Sunday school class Sunday morning. Does it ever end?
Busyness why, even in the church we can drive you to a frenzy under the guise of caring and doing good. I have felt guilty taking the phone off the hook while I walk down the hall and back!
You find yourself often pushing, striving, worrying, deciding, promoting, struggling, and only sometimes enjoying. You struggle to keep yourself going, keep others going, and just keep up with whatever is going.
When ... how ... do you ever relax? Really relax, so that the muscles in your neck, your shoulders, your back, your abdomen are calm and have no need to produce a posture? When does your brain ever get the message that it doesn’t have to produce anything within a given time-frame. Even when you have the opportunity to rest, how do you do it after being postured for peak production?
Even if you’re not a workaholic, as I am, planned leisure will make a world of difference for you. The church needs to promote right use of leisure. Our lifestyle in America gives us more and more leisure time. But unplanned, and often unmanaged, use of that time can be destructive. And it is often the case that those who have the least preparation for leisure have the most of it.
Jesus validated a concern for planned leisure in the Gospel. Last week we had the story of Jesus sending the Twelve out on mission tasks in pairs, two-by-two. Today we have the story of their return. Jesus greeted the Twelve with another one of his innovative strategies: “Come,” he said, “to an out-of-the-way place and rest a little.”
Leisure do you plan your leisure? Do you block out spots on your calendar for your walk, your jog, your golf outing, the movie, just like your dental appointments? If you don’t, it is less than what we call planned. Planned leisure is chosen leisure. Let’s take a look at how Jesus encouraged the Twelve to choose a plan of leisure:
Return and Report bring your work up to date and sign out.
Retreat and Recovery don’t be reluctant; pack and get on the road.
Reconnect and Refuel get back in touch with the real you.
Return to the Rhythm of life mountaintop experiences are short-lived. However, when you get back home you can do shorter versions of “R & Rs.”
Return and Report that is the first thing the disciples did. From all we can tell, the Twelve returned to their headquarters, simple as it must have been, exhilarated and excited, ready to report on what I referred to last week as a “pilot test” mission. Although tired, we would like to believe that they would have gladly taken another assignment.
Can you relate to that? I can. Most of us want a vacation, and we gladly take it. But how often does this happen, that as you get closer and closer to the time to go, your desk, your work place, gets busier and busier? How can I leave now? you think. And the temptation is to carry paperwork with you or postpone your leave day or shorten the time with the idea that you’ll take it later.
You conquer that temptation by giving your report and reminding your boss that your vacation begins stat.
Now you are on your way to Retreat and Recovery, or simply “R & R.” Note what practical wisdom Jesus uses! He does not give them another assignment. Note his strategy. He invites them to rest. It is another teaching strategy: just when they are exhausted with the effort, the discipline and patience just when they are exhilarated with a sense of the adventure and fulfillment this thing we call life offers at that very moment Jesus strategically planned this “R & R” to teach them the cruciality of maintaining a balance of work and leisure. Jesus didn’t discuss the metabolic and neurologic details of being a workaholic, or the effects of stress on the body. But he obviously had the common wisdom to know the value of planned withdrawals from the presence of daily work in order to replenish energies. He knew, if you don’t breathe in, you have nothing to breathe out.
The main difference between the Twelve and you and I is that you and I have not been on a preaching mission. We have been busy, but at our kinds of work, studies, graduating, getting married, buying a home, volunteer assignments, retirement. Whatever your regular activity is, your use of leisure is a key part of the secret of your survival, emotionally, spiritually, physically and psychologically. Changes in politics, economics and culture demand that we make adaptations. Our job, our age, our health, our marital status, our educational achievement call us to adjust and re-adjust our goals and behavior.
The essence of “R & R” Retreat and Recovery is to saturate your daily menu with the ingredients that will replenish and refuel you. But you have to choose it and plan it. Now you are ready to Reconnect and Refuel. Take the opportunity to get behind the mask you wear in public every day. Reconnect as closely as you can with the real you. Recall your past and reconnect with the forces and influences and inner drives that make you who you are. Reconnect with the personality type you are, noting your strengths and weaknesses.
Plan at least one excursion, short though it may be, away from your usual environment. Do things you don’t normally do. See people and sights you don’t normally see. Walk the beaches, tour historic sights, relearn what makes our country great, engage in activities that relax your body, expand your mind, and recharge your emotions. Something as simple as dinner out and an evening at the theatre can make a difference. There is a story of a physician who examined a patient who was lonely and depressed. After the examination, the physician said to the patient, “There’s nothing wrong with you. I have a suggestion. There’s a well-known actor-clown in town. Go hear him give yourself an evening of laughter and you’ll be all right.” The patient answered, “But, doctor, I am that clown!” We can get so immersed in our own activity that we block out any thought of innovation and change.
Charles Schultz, creator of Peanuts, promotes his conviction that leisure is not a luxury but a necessity. Schultz has said that if he had a single gift to pass on, it would be the ability for every one of us to laugh at ourselves. Finally, as you come down from the mountain of “R & R,” you Return to the Rhythm of life in your usual place. You’ll feel a renewed sense of what it’s like to work when you work, eat when you are hungry, sleep when you are tired, drink when you are thirsty, embrace when you are lonely and need loving. You return inspired to guard this God-given rhythm so that no foreign elements can sneak in and deposit germs of disease.
Yes, your “R & R” is over, but you can make it work on a mini scale. You can learn to mark on your calendar a rest here and break there. You can practice shooting arrow prayers. You can follow the advice of one who said, “Slow me down, Lord! ... Teach me the art of taking minute vacations of slowing down to look at a flower, to chat with a friend, to pat a dog, to read a good book.”1
Most important of all, reconnect with that One whose image you are. Jesus is his perfect image. In Jesus, God keeps reminding you that you don’t have to be involved in everything going on in the world, no matter how good it may be just be selective of a few things that draw all your capacities to complete dedication in Jesus Christ.
1. Source unknown.