An Undistracted Peace

I spent Monday holed up in a little cabin in the woods—with no internet, no cell service, and heck, no running water—and it was glorious! With the beginning of a new sermon series coming this Sunday (and a challenging one at that), I needed to spend some undistracted time in serious sermon preparation. And that’s exactly what happened!

It’s amazing how much you can accomplish when interruptions are eliminated and attention is undivided. For all the blessings technology has brought into our lives, it has also opened the Pandora’s Box of procrastination and disturbance. It’s pretty hard to get things done when emails keep coming, the lure of Facebook looms, and the distraction of the internet sucks us into its vortex.

Never have we needed the wisdom of the Sabbath more.

We need moments, hours, and days to unplug from the tether of technology and unwind from the chaotic cacophony of our busy existence. We need room in our schedule where we can’t be reached by anyone but those we let into those spaces (including, at times, no one). We were rhythmically created to rest and never designed for the stressful schedules we keep.

We need time where we can’t be reached and we won’t be bothered.

So, let’s build this unplugging practice into our daily, weekly, and monthly rhythms. Let’s be intentional about finding moments, both short and long, where we can unwind from our stressful, busy, multi-tasking world. And let’s spend those moments being unadulteratedly present to both the work and rest God is inviting us into.