I admire people who travel a great deal and still manage to be focused, creative and engaged. After more than a month of almost constant travel, I can truthfully say that I am not that kind of person. Not that my travel has been bad. I have had opportunities to walk alongside of people involved in ministry across western Europe, meet with seminary students in California and work with students in a variety of projects in and around Seattle.
Each of these opportunities has been a huge blessing. But I find that I get travel weary after such extended periods of being away. I am still far from a home body. Being in new places, meeting new people and doing new things is something I love to do. But whereas the occasional experience like these is something which energizes me, a constant diet makes me weary and unable to focus.
I don’t want to spiritualize everything, but I think there is something about this which rings true of our spiritual lives as well. All of us are on journey with God. The pace of that journey may vary from person to person or even be different at different times of life. I enjoy the journey tremendously and the challenge of new thoughts, new experiences with God and new ways of living out my faith. But I have come to see that I also need pauses and times of stillness, when I simply rest in who God is and what I know of Him (which admittedly is not as much as I once thought). I need rest. And that is OK.
