[bluidkiti]

The Most Telling Strokes

When Leonardo da Vinci was painting "The Last Supper," the monks who lived where he worked became resentful because of his long periods of apparent inactivity. The artist would stand for hours without touching his brush to the canvas before him. Some of the monks even thought he was taking advantage of the contract to do this work.

When this was discussed with da Vinci, he answered, "When I pause the longest, I make my most telling strokes with my brush."

Amid the noise and the rushing tides of the day, we need a time to pause. In such creative stillness, the ceaseless clamor that drains us of all our energies and that strains our lives to the breaking point can be put aside, and we can be restored to face whatever we need to face.

There are times we must pause in order to preserve and discipline our physical energies. Much of life is wasted on the insignificant. At times we must pause to discover truth and direct our lives in the proper channels. The great revelations of life never come to the hurried passerby.
--from "Clergy Talk," December 1997

Pastor: Do you need to pause more often? I’ve told my people that if they walk into my office one morning and find me starring out the window, that may be one of my most productive moments in sermon preparation. I’ve even had flashes of insight while walking the dog! Build some time into your schedule to “pause”—you may find that those mini-vacations will be when your brain works the hardest.
--Rocky Henriques