In A Hurry????

Lily Tomlin once said, "The trouble with the rat race is - even if you win - you're still a rat!" Rat race.........do these words mirror our hurried lives in the 21st century?? I have to admit, too often they are an apt description of at least segments of mine.

In Living Prayer, author Robert Benson makes me pause from the rat race long enough to ponder the foolishness and futility of rushing through my days.

"We take our place in the race and watch our lives disappear in the daily grind. We rush through the present toward some future that is
supposed to be better but generally only turns out only to be busier. We hurry through our prayers and miss them - just as we race through our meals and do not linger over the coffee and the conversation. We (rush) our children out the door in the morning so we can get on to the real world.

"Be careful what you treasure....." I read somewhere once. I do not think about it much; my treasure shows itself all to clearly. "

Some of the gifts of this Lenten season are the gifts of pace and introspection. When the Apostle Paul urged early followers of Jesus to "run the race", I don't believe he was speaking of the rat race. Is it possible for us to be intentional in our living? Dare we pause long enough in the course of our over-scheduled days to listen for what God is trying to say to us? These are the questions which are pregnant with possibility.......May God grant us grace to learn how to waste away an hour with God....frequently.

Still In ONE Peace,
Jon(the Methodist)