Busy, Busy, Busy

In case you haven't been following our daily updates on our homepage, the Washington Ethical Society finally has internet back. We were out for more than a week, and we'll probably never get most of the emails that were sent during that time. All those emails, lost. All that busyness, gone for ever. I may discover that I am wrong, but right now I am thinking that missing a week of email might be kind of great. I may be influenced by the recent New York Times article that praises, basically, the virtue of idleness. Or rather, bemoans the American obsession with always being busy, with creating busyness in our lives as though it's some kind of badge of honor. I feel this most acutely as a minister, as a religious leader. On the one hand I have a role as a kind of executive, running an organization with a staff, a budget, a Board, and all the expectations that go with it. On the other hand, my deeper calling is to teach and preach and model a life that goes against those expectations, to convince people that a well-lived life is about listening deeply, connecting in real time, creating space to notice the amazing world around us. Which of those two functions wins on any given day? What do I do to allow each function to flourish? I'm not suggesting that I'm going to ditch the budget and stare at the clouds all day. But if the server goes down every now and then...well, maybe that's not the worst thing in the world.