This past weekend I had the privilege of going on another personal prayer retreat. My main goal on this retreat was to rest and "go off the grid" (that is, to turn off my phone). A friend had just recommended The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by John Mark Comer, which ended up being the perfect book to remind me of the power of disconnecting from technology and slowing down the pace of my life. The author started his own journey after hearing Dallas Willard's response to the question of what was necessary in order to grow spiritually: "Hurry is the great enemy of spiritual life in our day. You must ruthlessly eliminate hurry from your life." This rang true for me on my retreat as I was finally able to rest without the barrage of bad news streaming in and endless notifications going off on my phone.
In the silence and solitude (one of the four main areas discussed in the book) of my solo retreat, I was able to focus enough to read two entire books as well as to spend dedicated time to journaling some of my prayers; both of those things are challenging for me at home as I feel inundated with distractions. The author also encourages us to further explore Sabbath, Simplicity, and Slowing. I asked the Lord how I could practically apply some of the ideas presented in the book. In my journal, I wrote down some small changes that I'd like to make in each of these respective areas.
I would highly recommend the book to anyone who is living a "hurried" life and would like an easy read with some great inspiration and practical tips of where to start. I didn't mean for my reflection to turn into a book review, but these are still the things that I'm processing. I look forward to seeing how I'm able to integrate some of these changes into my lifestyle in the coming months.
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