"If we let our life . . . be overwhelmed by the claim of guests, we could endanger the resources by which we serve them. . . . Every [monastery] shall have a private area to which guests are not normally invited." Monastic Rule of Life, SSJE
I probably will have a lot of good “guests” today (in the form of good work and good activities and good things to learn and good people). It is easy for me to get overwhelmed by the claim of my good guests--squeezing in one more email here, mentally racing there, overfilling every waking minute--until I’m running on fumes. So my guests and I will benefit if I allow myself sacred pauses here and there: private, uncrowded moments of rest and healing and feeling and arms-wide-open listening and course-correction and thank-You.
“Then, because so many people were coming and going that they did not even have a chance to eat, [Jesus] said to them, “Come away with Me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest.” Mark 6:31