[pause] for the cause pace

The road trip from St. Louis to Denver takes its toll on a traveler.

It's 12-13 hours, minimum. It's one highway (I-70). The scenery mostly bores once west of Manhattan, KS. Also, the elevation above sea level slightly -- yet steadily -- ascends the entire drive; so while it appears flat as paper, it's nothing but incline. This adds to the drive time, and slowly induces altitude sickness symptoms if you're not hydrated.

This road trip I've done this a few times. Did a Colorado ski trip once with friends, and to arrive in Denver by 6PM for dinner, we hit the road at 6AM. While we pushed ourselves and made it, it felt miserable.

I preferred this trip when we chose to stop for the night. Hays, KS is an ideal location -- it's more than halfway, it's along the interstate.

This gets to my main thought for us all today: some journeys, some trips, some endeavors are better experienced when we take the built-in pause for the cause. Yeah, without a stop we'd arrive faster, but for what? Who's keeping track? By whose standard are we early, or late, or on time? 

We get there when we get there. 

In the meantime, let's stop to fill up on gas, take a leak, relax these brains of ours, fill up our water bottles, stretch our legs, gulp in some fresh air, grab a snack. This is a time when we're in one of the great, expansive in-betweens of life. We're on our way. We get there when we get there.

For every exit ramp, there's a nearby entrance ramp for us too.

on Billy Joel wisdom

I remember driving home after seeing my favorite band perform live for the first time.

You might know how it feels after a concert like that. Lightning-esque, energized adrenaline absolutely racing, galloping, scouring through my veins (and my body). I felt like I could channel electricity itself.

Felt something like this?

Maybe more like this...

I arrived home after midnight. Despite my adrenaline, I had to wake up early the next day to stand in a dear friend's wedding, so getting some sleep was vital. I needed sleep.

A younger me might've eschewed this wisdom. "Why go to sleep so soon? -- we gotta ride this wave!" my reasoning might've shouted.

Sometimes, we have to force a wiser way of living upon ourselves than our body may crave in a moment. 

You will learn and re-learn this truth of life. I will have to re-learn it too. 

Our Lord God created us to regularly need sleep, decent food, a regular amount of actual sunshine, silence, prayer, community, human touch, laughter, all that. Everything that God provides in this life. To be human, in other words. We need times of serious rest to follow times of serious work. We are made to work well, work diligently, and to expend our energy toward this.

But we're not made to work nonstop.

One of the numerous reasons why I love Billy Joel's song 'Vienna' (from the 'The Stranger' album and the '13 Going on 30' movie -- an enduring, quality film for its genre) is its implicit reminder of this eternal truth. The lyrics positively teem with this wisdom.

    "Where's the fire, what's the hurry about? You better cool it off before you burn it out..."

    "Slow down, you're doing fine..."

    "You can't be everything you want to be before your time..."

    "Take the phone off the hook and disappear for awhile 

    "It's alright, you can afford to lose a day or two..."

Dear reader: if you've recently wrapped an exerting few weeks of life, it would do you much good to take your foot off the gas and coast a bit (beyond the point where you feel moderately rested). If you can, it'd be wise take the notifications off your phone, to disappear for awhile.

Go play a video game you've already conquered.

Go take a nap with a family pet (note: preferably your own family pet, not some random, feral, goofy-eyed possum from the nearby creek).

Go walk in the brisk air and the sun. 

Go build something useful with your hands, just for the fun of it. If your exertion lately has been mental, it helps to reset with physical activity.

Go re-read a favorite book. 

Go play a board game with a family member. 

Go for a drive.

Go force your body, mind, and heart to adopt -- and stick to it for this time -- a purposefully sustainable pace of getting through a day.

Go fall asleep praying to God.

[Incidentally: have you ever held a baby? Maybe it's your newborn cousin, or an older sibling's firstborn child. If a baby (that's not yours) falls asleep in your arms, it feels like a huge, huge compliment -- because it is. It means the baby feels safe with you. Or if it's a cat or dog falling asleep in your lap -- you feel privileged to be accorded such an honor. Imagine this scenario next time you fall asleep while praying to the Lord -- sleep is a natural response for someone to do when they feel safe and secure in in the presence of another. Maybe, just maybe, God feels this way toward us when we fall asleep in prayer]

Rest up, y'all. We'll gather back on the other side of the new year.

 

"Come to me all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." -Matthew 11:28-29