"Come away....and rest awhile"

“Come away… all by yourselves and rest awhile” (Mark 6:31)

We seem to be living in a more and more rest and sleep deprived society all the time.  We have ever more advancing technology to help us do our work but yet there still seems never to be enough hours in our day to get the things done we need to do, or we keep adding more and more things to our already too full, to-do lists.  In the gospels we hear often that Jesus would after a busy day go of to a deserted place to rest, or get up early in the morning to be alone to pray, he was very intentional about this, but he also invited the disciples to do the same.  In Mark’s gospel after the disciples had gathered around Jesus telling him all they had done and taught, he said to them, “Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while, for many were coming and going and they had no leisure to eat.”(6:31). Now I don’t know about you but that sounds to me very much like the society we live in today, in the door, grab a bite to eat if you got the time, or grab something to go and out the door again. The part however about coming away to rest awhile we seem to omit, or think we don’t need to pay attention to; and usually if we do go of somewhere, for what we call getting away for a time, we fill it with so many activities that we come back more harried and tired then when we left.  Recently I had the opportunity to do just that, to go away to a quiet place to rest. I took some personal retreat time and stayed for a few days at St. John’s convent in Toronto, and while there my days took on the rhythm of the sisters at the convent, which meant it was mostly silent, even the meals were eaten in silence.  Coming from a very busy parish life, at first the silence felt uncomfortable almost overwhelming, but I soon realized how much I needed this time of rest and quiet, and the feeling was soon replaced with one of gratitude for this time of solitude. “Come away and rest a while.”  Jesus understood the disciples need for rest and replenishment in their busy lives, and he understands our need too. Oh, I know not everyone can just go of to a convent somewhere to have that place of solitude, but we don’t have to. It could be as simple as closing a door to the outside world for a short time, shutting down our social media sites, or turning of the phone for a few hours.  Doing that regularly enough, and soon you will realize just how much you too need that time of rest and feel better for it.  Yes, Jesus was very much aware of the demands on life, after all there was no one ever more in demand then he was, and if he could take time out of his busy schedule, then surely we ought to be able to do so.  “Very early in the morning when it was still dark, Jesus withdrew to a solitary place to be alone with God” (Mark 1:35). “He went to the mountain alone and spent the night in prayer” (Luke 6:12).  And he taught his followers to do the same. “Come away by yourselves to a quiet place and rest a while” (Mark 6:31).