OFF THE GRID

Of course it’s the last day of June and I have not lingered in my blog for the entire month.

I use to write daily.  

[I still offer a scripture or a small vignette of those who have helped shape Christian doctrine through the centuries.  Check out “Daily Graces from God”.]  

Then I settled on weekly notes on my ‘Linger Longer with Gail’ blog.

Now I can barely write monthly.

“What’s going on?” I ask myself.

My inner whispers . . .  those that gnaw at me daily . . .  tell me . . . 

“I’m staying off the grid.”

Incognito.

Absent.

Every excuse in the world filters through my soul.

We made our annual change from our southern abode to our northern abode.

That does not compute.  We came North in May.

“The garden died!”  Yes, my huge rose bush died and tops of others had to be cut back.  It took one week to clean up the garden but gorgeous weather with loads of rain made it BLOOM!

Perhaps the best reason for not lingering with words is that I have none?

I’m reading, digesting, swirling in new thought.

Yet, I have no words?

For years I have so filled my lists with ‘doing’ that I’ve taken little time for just ‘being.’

As my dear friend says, “We are human ‘beings’ not human ‘doings.’”

So, my grand excuse is that I simply was BEING . . .  for one solid month.

It is truly good to step off the grid of the ‘TO DO’ lists.

It’s good to linger with no thoughts in my head.

It’s good, at least for me, to forget my goals and linger in the garden, linger with a good book . . . and then another and another.

It’s good to watch my favorite movie on video even if I have seen it at least twenty times.

I just sit there, get totally nostalgic, allow a tear or two to overtake me, breathe deep and place myself in another world.

It’s good to enjoy friends who visit for a day or two and see friends I have not been able to enjoy for six months.

It’s good to GET OFF THE GRID once in awhile.

It’s good to become invisible and invite my imagination to replenish itself.

It’s good to step back from volunteering at various churches when other clergy need a break. 

 [I’m not completely ‘off the grid’ with this commitment but I’m doing far less.]

I’m learning to stop ‘work’ and create moments of renewal that bring bliss-filled JOY.

I’ve decided to take time for more prayer regarding a specific age group.

This takes loads of discipline but little more.

I’m praying for those in the next generation, those who may have been raised by the best parents but who seem so lost.

I’m praying for those who have never stepped into a place of worship . . . any worship.  

I’m finding renewed JOY in studying the ‘fathers and mothers’ of our faith.

These are the ones like Augustine and Aquinas and Teresa of Avila.  

I’m digesting a deeper understanding of ‘Covenant’ and what Jesus really meant when He said, “This is My body . . . This is My blood . . . at the last Passover meal He shared with his disciples.”

It’s good to be ‘off the grid’ once in awhile.

I pray I can share what I’m digesting in the coming months.