Unplug

85 times.

That is how often each day people check their cell phone. 

85 times of seeing if you have an email or a Facebook update or a Snapchat...of course all these apps will conveniently ding and buzz the second they come through with a push notification.

Or sites claim that we spend almost four hours a day...or others say the equivalent of 23 days a year.

Needless to say, its a lot of time.

Needless to say, right now you are staring at a screen reading this post.

We all need to unplug...stop gazing at the thousand pixels and turn toward other ways of engaging.

By no means am I saying we become a Luddite and eschew technology. 

I am not going to give up my smart phone or computer or Netflix account.

But I am also going to realize that I am a person beyond and outside of those things.

I don't have to rush, race to answer every text immediately.

I don't have to surf endlessly on a screen for entertainment.

I don't have to binge watch every episode...after all...they will be there tomorrow or the next day or the day after that.

God called the 7th day Sabbath for rest, renewal, a cease from working, to be. 

God rested and still rests on the 7th day.

God invites us into a rhythm and a beat that isn't about production, but about a persistent and patient love that sees us as more than what we make or consume.

So, perhaps the best way to end this post, is to go outside right now...what do you hear? Smell? See? And encounter/experience?  May there be more than a trace of God's grace in that moment.

Amen.