"OUT OF THE OFFICE"

(Based in part on an excerpt from my chapter “Living in my Summit Season” from my forthcoming book.)

Occasionally I receive an automatic email reply from a friend's computer: “So-and-so is out of the office and will return on such and such a day. If this is an emergency or urgency call this number.” 

TODAY IT'S MY TURN! I'm going to be intentionally “out of my office” (my regular routine) today...no computering, no email, no television news, and a no-people day. I will return (although I am not going anywhere) tomorrow, Lord willing. If you have an urgency, call upon the Lord. He is available 24/7.

I'm taking a personal day for quiet, refreshment, contemplation, restoration, and recollection to gather the scattered pieces of my life. It will be the “Lord's day” when I make myself totally available to listen to Him, to see if I'm straight on His course. 

Cutting loose like that is not my normal behavior. My rather intense lifestyle is not because anyone pushes me or dangles deadlines over my head; I tend to drive myself, a lifelong habit. I'm a highly motivated goal setter with a sense of purpose and calling from God, a calling which He has not revoked, although I'm nearly ready to graduate from the decade of my eighties. 

The flip side is that I have to deliberately schedule time to smell the roses, slow my pace, and unwind. From time to time I must "declare my independence" from all usual routine, leave the busy highway of life, and exit at the rest stop! And stay there awhile. (I may like it so well that I'll make it a habit!)

The summit season of my life should offer more discretionary time for quiet and meditation, but the good use of it must be intentional or it will be wasted. I wouldn't be surprised if a fruit tree probably grows its fruit silently when no one is around but God, the Creator of the tree. Fruit bearing, not busyness, is what I'm after. That's what makes God smile!

(My poem below may seem to extoll the virtue of doing nothing, which has some intrinsic benefit too. But my day off today is intended to present myself before the Lord.)

EXIT AT THE REST STOP

Today—I'm going to chill out

and let my motor idle and delay

working on my perpetual goals.

I’ll ignore the flak from the nervous crowd

who may not understand

my escape from productivity.

I’ll say, “No thanks!” to their generous offer

to buy me an “all expenses paid” ticket

for a guilt trip to Stressed Out Land.

I plan to soft pedal my fortissimo

and play awhile in pianissimo.

I’ll put aside my endless “to do” list

scratching across it:

“Some other day—maybe.”

I’ll seize an interval of healthy fun

and back off from the rat race

I usually run.

I’ll shut my ears to “Do it now!”

and procrastinate till it’s really too late.

I’ll simply bow out for one single day

to let my spirit romp and play.

God and I will sit down together

on a porch swing in a gentle breeze

to enjoy a break—at His invitation.

He'll call “Time out!” as He did

when His six-day creative work was done.

I’ll deliberately neglect responsibility

and purposely pamper myself

for an entire twenty-four hour day

and close my ears to the drumbeat others play.

I’ll march at my own more sagacious pace

and not compete in life’s frantic drag race.

I’ll not insist on making things happen

but relax in God’s silent grace.

I plan to do absolutely nothing today

and let the world just accelerate away.

I’ll loosen the strings of my fully-taut bow

and release my built-up tension.

I’ll lighten up and state my intention:

“Today I declare my own holiday!”

I’ll loaf and lounge all I jolly well please

and let my overheated engine cool

—before I succumb to burnout

and have to be towed away!