Making Time!
Manning Gorge
The deep north of Australia in the Kimberley and Northern Territory has a unique beauty. Lee and I took annual leave just recently and travelled
11, 000 km’s and only scratched the surface. One thing I really enjoyed was camping in a swag on parts of the trip on the Gibb River Road and Kakadu. Lee is a great person to take camping, but honestly, she preferred the times we stayed in hotels, which we did to balance out our preferences. We were away four weeks and only stayed in the swag for eight nights. I would say I made a great sacrifice but would not suggest that to Lee.
Going back to the basics and camping simply with a direct connection to the environment and nature is special for me. The large spider that invaded our swag did upset our tranquil camp, but that is life. It is fantastic to be able to gaze through the mesh of the swag and look into the night sky with its dazzling display of stars. In Psalm 8, David captures the spiritual impact this can have on us
O LORD, our Lord, your majestic
name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants
to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies
and all who oppose you.
When I look at the night sky and see
the work of your fingers –
the moon and the stars you set in place –
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honour.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
putting all things under their authority –
the flocks and the herds
and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O LORD, our Lord, your majestic
name fills the earth!
(Psalm 8, NLT)
Connecting with God on my morning walk in Perth is important to me, and simple activities like working in my veggie garden is also a terrific way to relax and get closer to our creator God. The challenge can be that distractions of life can take over and push beauty and times of meditation out of our life.
While camping in beautiful places like Manning Gorge and Windjana Gorge without any phone coverage and relaxing in God’s country, I was astonished to hear the noise of a television. I discovered people go to a lot of expense and trouble to be able to connect to a movie or a football game via their satellite set up. I was a bit shocked to think you would travel to a remote location and then bring your entertainment with you.
However, on reflection, this is a lesson for me. It is so easy in life to be on your phone, checking the news, the footy scores or whatever and totally distracted from loved ones and friends. God does not even get a look in sometimes in our desire to be on our devices. One of the things that Lee loved about our trip was that I was not on my phone or computer, and we rejuvenated our relationship. We had lots of talks, laughs, and just enjoyed doing things together. Perhaps consider getting back to the basics and connecting with your loved ones and giving God priority.
Fasting is a biblical teaching that most of us do not follow, but it is a clear teaching of Scripture and of Jesus. In our world, fasting can and should be about food, but a higher priority could be fasting from our devices. The claim to be busy has become like a badge of honour, but if we all reduced our time on our devices, we might discover we have a lot of time to build our relationships with God and people.
