Rest anyone?

Last Tuesday through Friday I received a great gift. A very generous and anonymous member of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church has funded retreats for pastors at a bed and breakfast in East Tennessee. All expenses are paid, including the food. The location, Whitestone Inn, is beautiful and relaxing, The service is wonderful. 

I did almost nothing. I listened to books on tape...

As an aside, when going to a bed and breakfast in the middle of nowhere, it may be advisable to avoid Agatha Christie novels, where, inevitably, a group of people who don't know each other very well find themselves in a picturesque bed and breakfast somewhere and start dropping dead.

I also put together a jigsaw puzzle and did a few crossword puzzles, did a little working out, and played the guitar (working on a good blues vibe). Other than that, I ate and slept.

I did not check my e-mail while on the trip. At the end of three days I had 245 unread e-mails.

Folks, we are overwhelmed in this modern day.

Don't get me wrong--I love technology. I like to get new technological gadgets. I think all of these things are neat and cool and fun. I used to try to stay up on latest developments, and they are just going too fast for me to do that anymore, but I do enjoy them.

But I don't think we were designed for this.

Humanity developed over a time when none of these things were accessible or could even be dreamed up. For a moment, just realize that it has only been a little more than five hundred years since the printing press was invented. Before that, all books were written by hand! How many books could you have in your library? Newspapers? No way! How did people get information? Word of mouth? Town meetings?

Think how short that time period has been in the history of humanity. And now consider, have we had enough time as a species to adapt to the accessibility of books? In 500 years, after not having books for the first thousands of years of humanity, are we yet able to adapt to books?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But in the last fifty years, how much information has come at us? In the last twenty years how have our relationships to technology changed? In the last ten years, how much have our phones become practically part of our bodies? 

Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by this? Anybody out there feel some stress when you realize how fast life is paced? 

I remembered something that was only just remaining in me, a memory of a time when I wasn't connected to every part of the world every moment of every day. I didn't turn on the television. I wish I could have brought myself to turn off my phone, but what if something REALLY important happened? I mean, how could I turn off my lifeline?

I'm no psychologist, but could this information overload be contributing to mental illness, depression, other disorders? 

I wish I had an answer. But I was reminded that although time seems short, we still must take time to attend to ourselves and heal from the wounds inflicted by the world. That time needs to be away from the buzzing of the phone on vibrate, the swarm of e-mails, and the talking heads of the news channels.

Take time.

Take time.

Get rest.