The Orchard Group

by Paul S. Williams
President, Orchard Group Inc.
Updated Weekly 

Driven to Distraction

The drive to Philadelphia took four hours, two hours longer than usual. It was the Fourth of July weekend, and cars captained by occasional drivers were clogging the highways. It happens around the holidays. New Yorkers accustomed to subway travel dust off their driver's licenses and take to the road with the confidence of a 7-year-old on his first bicycle. Traffic moves at the pace of a mule train.

By the time I hit the Goethals Bridge, I knew I was going to be an hour late for my meeting. That would cause me to be an hour late for my dinner appointment, which made it questionable whether or not I'd see my granddaughter at all, let alone catch my 8:30 flight out of Philadelphia International Airport.

It seemed a fitting end to a long trip. I had been in six different beds on six consecutive nights. It took about 10 seconds each morning to remember what state I was in. It was my own fault. I had set my own schedule. No scheduling monster had forced me to travel from coast to coast and nearly back again. I did it to myself. I was the one who made sure I stayed busier than busy, as if pure motion was its own reward.

When I did manage an hour with my son and his family, I was jolted into reality. As I gazed on the face of Asha, that little black-haired beauty, and watched my son hold her tightly to his chest, a part of my soul came forth that had been hidden for the better part of a week.

In his book, Making All Things New, Henri Nouwen said, "The great paradox of our time is that many of us are busy and bored at the same time." Though the book was written 27 years ago, Nouwen was defining my life today.

I ran from one event to another, convincing myself important work was being done. But was anything really happening? In The Shattered Lantern, Ron Rolheiser writes, "In our culture distraction is normal, while contemplation, solitude and prayer are not."

Now that I am back home I know the truth. The 30 minutes with my family was the only truly necessary event of that entire week. Maybe all the busyness pretended to some sort of importance, but when the trip was over, it was only that one image of a child in her father's grasp that remained. And with that image I can contemplate in solitude and pray with sound mind and full heart.

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"Used with permission of Christian Standard, where this column first appeared."