On Monday I begin a three-week vacation. Part of that will include not blogging, tweeting, or posting on Facebook and Instagram.
Why?
- To Honor Sabbatical Rest. I prefer to frame vacations as sabbaticals from the Lord, a gift to let the soil of one’s soul get replenished by stopping our work, resting, delighting, and contemplating Him. A good part of my work now includes social media engagement. So I will stop and let it rest.
- To Respect My Vulnerabilities. I like Sherry Turkle’s point that “laptops and smartphones are not things to remove. They are facts of life and part of our creative lives. The goal is to use them with greater intention. We are faced with technologies to which we are extremely vulnerable and we don’t always respect that fact.” Is it possible to be addicted to social media? I think so. (Not all researchers agree.) Disconnecting will be good for my soul.
- To Embrace Humility. Unless the Lord builds a house, we labor in vain who build it (Ps. 127:1). The world and the work of the kingdom will do just fine without me. It always has and always will.
- To Let Go. We will let go of everything as we grow older and approach death (unless of course we get hit by a truck and die suddenly). This is very good practice of an essential discipline in discipleship (see John 12:24).
- To Make Room for Others. When I get out of the way, even for a few weeks, other people emerge. When I stay, they don’t in quite the same way. In fact, my experience is that things often go better when I am away!
So, as Lynn Ungar writes in her beautiful poem, Camas Lilies: Gone to the fields to be lovely. Be back when I’m through with blooming.
-Pete
Twitter @petescazzero
