2 February 2013 2 Comments

I could do with doing nothing….well nothing productive really. My life is too planned now and I can feel it. Unfortunately I work in a culture that values activity and in a professional church culture that exalts busyness. *Sigh*

You know, when you reach the stage that U2 were at, post ‘Joshua Tree’ of needing to go away and ‘dream it all up again’ that something is wrong.

These are two blog posts that have acted like voices in the wilderness to me.

This one from http://theblogofkevin.wordpress.com/2013/01/27/filling-up-the-sea-with-stones/

‘Throwing stones into the sea. It’s a bit pointless, really. But there is a time for the pointless. It can be so easy to get caught up with important things. They are, after all, important. But sometimes the brain just gets full of thinking. Thinking about poverty or slavery or eating habits or friends or gender or sexuality or politics or neighbours or the kingdom or justice or service planning or thinking about thinking or not thinking at all…

So if nobody has given permission, and you feel you need it so you don’t feel bad about not doing something worthy, this is it. Go and try and fill the sea with stones. It won’t work. Who cares. But you’ll feel better’.

And this from someone who I am proud to call a friend http://thisfragiletent.com/2013/01/15/rediscovering-silence/ and who has invited me on a retreat which I am hoping to make and will be my first for 9 years:-

If we were not so single-minded about keeping our lives moving, and for once could do nothing, perhaps a huge silence might interrupt this sadness of never understanding ourselves and of threatening ourselves with death. (Pablo Neruda)