As summer program comes to an end and I look back at the school year I am aware of what a productive and satisfying year this has been at St. Paul's in so many ways. I am also aware that even though it is summer, I have once again been unsuccessful in finding a way to balance my life in terms of work and rest. I bring this up because I know that many of you are in the same dilemma. We live in a culture that seems to encourage all of us to over function in many areas of our life. I keep thinking that I can find some way to do a better job of not only balancing my own life, but at the same time, to model and encourage ways for all of the staff and ultimately all of you folks to slow down!

We need to find a balance between work and recreation and rest not only for ourselves, but also for our children. Giving our children time and occasionally our undivided attention is extremely important for their well-being. If we are to successfully meet our children's needs we must first take the time to listen to and observe them, and not always impose our hurried adult agendas upon them. And for our children, there seems to be an increasing number of extracurricular activities and lessons available for them at younger ages than ever. Because of this we need to be careful not to be pressured, by the mere availability of so many choices of activities, to over schedule them, which will surely cause too much stress far too early in their lives.

When we are exhausted with our adult lives, not only are we unable to muster the energy to parent well and enjoy other relationships in our lives, we are role modeling our culture of frantic stressed out over functioning to our children on a regular basis. With these thoughts in mind I would like to ask each of you to reflect on the pace of your life, and the endless lists of activities and "to do's."
 

A couple of years ago I shared an article by the Australian writer, Michael Leunig, entitled Learn to Rest. A number of people have asked me for reprints, so I thought this might be a good time to once again share this article with all of you.

In Response to the question, "What is worth dong and what is worth having?" I would simply say this. It is worth doing nothing and having a rest; in spite of all the difficulty it may cause, otherwise you will become RESTLESS! I believe the world is sick with exhaustion and dying of restlessness.

While it is true that periods of weariness help the spirit to grow, the prolonged, ongoing state of fatigue, to which our world seems to be rapidly adapting, is ultimately soul-destroying. The ecology of evil flourishes and love cannot take root in this sad situation. Tiredness is one of our strongest, most noble and instructive feelings. It is an important aspect of our CONSCIENCE and must be heeded or else we will not survive.

When you are tired you must HAVE that feeling and you must act upon it-sensibly you MUST rest like the trees and animals do. Yet tiredness has become a matter of shame! This is a dangerous development. Tiredness has become the most suppressed feeling in the world. Everywhere we see people overcoming their exhaustion and pushing on with intensity-cultivating the great mass mania which all around is making life so hard and ugly-so cruel and meaningless-so utterly graceless-and being congratulated for overcoming it and pushing it deep down inside themselves as if it were a virtue to do this.

And of course, you know what happens when such strong and natural feelings are denied-they turn into the most powerful and bitter poisons with dread consequences. We live in a world of these consequences and then wonder why we are so unhappy. So I gently urge you, learn to rest-feel your noble tiredness-learn about it and make a generous place for it in your life and enjoyment will surely follow. I repeat: It's worth doing nothing and having a rest.