time to breath.
I was talking with some friends this week about how technology and advancements have helped in many ways but you can also see how they have hindered us as humanity as well. Nothing new, I know, but it was something that stuck with me for the past couple of days.
That night I was meeting them at this little place called The Meanwhile in Grand Rapids and I am living about a 30 minute walk away from there. I made the decision that i was going to walk there instead of asking for a lift and I set out on my journey and was surprised at the things I was beginning to notice on my way. Houses that I had never seen, people who were interesting to watch, businesses I never knew existed. I have driven down this road many times, ran down it as well but i was so focused on my end goal, I lost sight of what was in front of me.
sit and be.
This morning in the park there was a man watching the water, sitting on a stool, next to the bike he rode there. This man was breathing it in. He was sitting and being. Just being.
Now I know I talk a lot about going and doing, not sitting and relaxing, but this is not me talking from a point of doing it right all the time. This is me saying that I need at times to breathe deep and I think you could too.
I was thinking the same sort of thing today. I was taking crap because I said I like to mow the lawn and, when asked why I liked it, I couldn’t give a good reason. As I continued to think about it, I decided that I like it because it gives me a chance to slow down. Sit on a couch for 2 hours pondering life, people call you lazy. Sit on a mower driving in circles for 2 hours and now you’re being productive, but you’re still getting that chance to slow things down and listen.
Stopping. Listening. “Being” as you put it. I think that sort of contemplative lifestyle is very much lost in today’s technological society. Why slow down? Take the expressway and make it in half the time! Why listen? I can pop in my iPod and drown out everything else! Who has time for “being”? I’m busy doing! That’s the world we live in. But sadly, that world has little room for God.
Appreciated the thoughts, Dom.