Slow Down and PARK

For some reason, possibly due to NYC hustle and bustle, I felt the need to go into work late today and take the morning for reflection and writing. I actually wound up doing some work off site anyway. But the last week I was hearing from various people, pastors included, that it is of utmost importance to take time to yourself and just pray.

I got off the W, made my way toward Columbus Circle and entered "the park." For those of you playing the home game, "the park"=Central Park. Even at 9am the city is a place of intensity and extremity. I made my way into the park and decided I was going for a long walk. I was definitely going to imbed myself inside the park and just chill. So imbed and chill is what I did.

I got to a point where I thought I would be stopping, but an interesting figure of sorts was flailing around and may have been singing. So I decided to keep going. And thankfully that annoyance was there because it allowed me to go where even the sun wasn't shining so bright and explore some of the Central Park "trails." After about an hour of that I found a rock alongside a lake to sit on. There I did todays "Portals of Prayer" devotional and also wrote the outline for my sermon this Sunday on Jesus as "Wonderbread." The rock, more like a large rock hill Central Park is full of these, was alongside one of many spots that the Central Park Conservancy is trying to restore.

This got me thinking about our own conservancy as Christians (it is obvious the days of me enjoying simple life pleasures without relating them theologically are long gone). How are we looking to be restored and conserved? Walking besides the calm waters of the various lakes in the park I immediately thought of the "still waters" the LORD our shepherd leads us beside from Psalm 23.

It is essential for Christians to take time out of their day (Okay, if you're really busy your week) to just sit and be still. That of course invokes another Psalm, #46, which tells us to "Be still and know I am God." Our lives can very much be like the hustle and bustle whirlwind of New York City, whether you live and work there or not! How important it is to take time to just be in contemplation and prayer. There's a reason God took the seventh day off. And there's a reason why we need sleep and rest to function properly. We're not God. We were created to rest at times, take advantage of it!