Hello folks, many of you know that I was in a car accident at the end of April. I got a concussion and was told I had to do a visual fast. I was not allowed to watch TV, use my computer, read or write. Thus the reason I have not written in my blog since Easter.  It took me almost a whole week before I emotionally let it all go. Over the time of this fast my experience helped me to rediscover the centering peace that comes with pause. I also realized just how much I had been living with worry and distraction.  I had come away from rush and hurry.

The way we engage in our western world began to shift with the advent of Cable TV, then  video games then Computers then  Cell Phones and now tablets and other devices.    It has altered the way we participate with the people around us in dramatic ways. Both for the good and the bad… We are inundated and involved in an endless array of information and business daily. Both good and Bad…..Tonight I want to  focus on two things that seem to go unchecked and that is ….the impact of worry and distraction cause by this new normal…….. and our need to come away from technology and rediscover centering peace.

First:  Worry.

How do we react to life and others when we are worried, anxious, and stressed!    Many are plagued with stress overload. Name any phobia and someone in this room has one. We worry about money, about jobs, about getting to places on time, about our safety, about our things getting stolen, about who is getting more than we are.  We worry about worry?
We are like that couple from Connecticut where the wife worried constantly about all their stuff. One night their home get  broken into. The husband heard a noise He goes downstairs to investigate and found a burglar emptying the silver chest. He said to burglar, “Stay right where you are….. I want to get my wife. She has been expecting you for twenty years.”
Second Distraction.

To be distracted is to be unfocused. Our thoughts, our plans, and our lives feel like we are out of control and pulled in every direction.

To be focused, on the other hand, is to have a plan, a purpose, a meaning that directs and enhances one’s life.

In this new normal

• What are those things that keep us from stillness and solitude?
• What are the events that distract us from being mindful and truly present with our loved ones and friends?
• What are the surplus of ideas and thoughts and impulses that obscure the wonders and beauty that surround us?
• What are you missing out on because you are sitting looking through a window to a virtual world?
• More importantly from my perspective where does God fit into this new normal?

A thousand distractions leap into our lap and demand, “Follow me, buy me, go here, go there, do this, do that!”

To come away from rush and hurry we actually being ourselves into a place of balance.   Our minds are given time off to be rejuvenated to rest.    Pete Seager …wrote a song years ago, “TURN TURNTURN.        He was  inspired by King Solomon of Israel who wrote 4000 years ago:   
“for everything there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven …

• a time to be born and a time to die …
• a time to work and a time to rest…
• a time to cry and a time to laugh
• a time to keep silence and a time to speak … there’s a time for everything.” .

Life is all about balance.  Our inner being will alert us when it is time to come away from rush and hurry. 

It is alerting us and hungering for God’s Peace….. When we are feeling especially worried or anxious or stressed begging to to come away from rush and hurry… When we are feeling distracted the inner person hungers and desires to come away from rush and hurry but Busy keeps coming instead.

My experience was profound. I encourage stop and ask yourself…..am I worried and or distracted? Is it time for me to come away from rush and hurry?   What needs to be done to better equip myself to take on the challenges of the day?  In what ways can I come away from rush and hurry?  Get your balance by being purposeful do a personal assessment. Do a Visual fast.  Find a place of quiet and meditate and pray.   Go for a walk and let yourself be present awake and alert to what you are thinking or feeling…what are you worried about? I extend an invitation to   consider the lilies of the field and the birds of the air they do not worry or fret  Our inner being is and will alert us and come away from rush and hurry.

1.Come away from rush and Hurry is a song title: http://www.hymnary.org/hymn/WAR2003/655