Seeing Creation

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

In Sunday School this morning we talked about “hurry sickness.”  This isn’t a disease you hear much about today but it is both serious and incredibly prevalent.  Hurry sickness is the condition of always being in a hurry.  It comes from getting caught up in this fast paced world we live in.  Hurry sickness drains our physical energy, causes us to be irritable, and does considerable damage to our relationships (we end up being too busy or tired to give ourselves completely to those we love).  Hurry sickness can be deadly!

The antidote for hurry sickness is slowing down.  Somehow, someway, we have got to learn to slow down.  The book we’re studying suggested that one way we can do this is by practicing solitude.  We all need time away from the rat race.  This can be done in small intervals each day.  Hopefully we can also find a way to practice extended times of solitude on a weekly or monthly basis. 

I think many people would benefit from spending time alone in God’s Creation.  As a general rule, the pace of things seems so much slower in nature.  The plants and animals we see there do not tend to get in a hurry.  Here God’s Creation can serve as our teacher.

Yesterday I took my friend, Steve Ausmus, over to Breaks Interstate Park.  We hiked in the Center Creek area.  After walking a while we both made our way down to the river.  Soon we separated and both of us found rocks to sit on.  This gave us each a chance to experience a bit of solitude in a very beautiful location.  Personally, I find such experiences most refreshing and satisfying to the soul. 

Periodically Jesus would call his disciples to “come apart” for a while.  He realized that his followers did not always need to be busy or doing something.  Things have changed a lot since that time.  Our lives are busier and more hectic than ever.  The need to “come apart” and slow down, however, has not changed.    As a wise person once noted, “if we don’t ‘come apart’ we will come apart.”  If you are suffering from hurry sickness, this would be a great time for you to find some solitude in God’ healing Creation.

–Chuck

(The image above was taken yesterday at Breaks Interstate Park in Kentucky.)