Mom (aka Jen Lundy) has established a firm “no slime in the house” rule (a good rule!), so the girls and I came over to church to play. Of course we cleaned up all of our mess afterward, but it reminded me that there are some good things you just can’t do in your normal flow of life.
Mark 6:31-32 says, “And he said unto them, Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had no leisure so much as to eat. 32 And they departed into a desert place by ship privately.” There are definitely times we need to step back and recharge physically and spiritually, but we should never withdraw so far that we aren’t willing to help others.
Verses 33-34 say, “And the people saw them departing, and many knew him, and ran afoot thither out of all cities, and outwent them, and came together unto him. 34 And Jesus, when he came out, saw much people, and was moved with compassion toward them, because they were as sheep not having a shepherd: and he began to teach them many things.” Jesus was still willing to help those people. He had withdrawn but never stopped being near people altogether.
It cracked me up the other day when I was checking our church podcast. Our host not only gives stats on which country listeners are from but also which PLANET! Apparently we are doing a very bad job of evangelizing Mercury, Venus, or any other planet besides Earth 🤔. Apparently when we step back to recharge we’d better at least stay on earth. It gave me a good laugh and a simple reminder: let’s take the time to step back and recharge but never so far that we are unavailable to help others.