Have you ever had that experience of always assuming you\nknew what a word meant, only to discover that it actually bears quite a\ndifferent meaning? <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I had one of those moments with the word \u201csaunter.\u201d I had encountered\nit often in books, usually with the same phraseology: \u201cHe sauntered in.\u201d To me, in context, it always felt synonymous\nwith \u201cstrutted,\u201d and I never bothered to look the word up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But one day I was on vacation, a guest at the home of friends, reading one of those life-coaching plaques in their home (I\u2019ll leave it to your imagination to guess which room of the house it was in). The plaque gave dozens of tidbits of advice for joyful living.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One of those sage counsels was \u201cSaunter aimlessly.\u201d It didn\u2019t seem to fit with the rest of the phrases on the plaque. \u201cStrut aimlessly\u201d??\u00a0 I suddenly found myself hearing the admonition of Inigo Montoya:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cYou keep using that word \u2013 I do not think it means what you think it means\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n So I got out my dictionary. Actually, let\u2019s be honest \u2013 I\ngot out my smart phone, which is ironic, because the smart phone is quite\npossibly one of the greatest disrupters of sauntering in all of human existence. But it gets the job done as a dictionary. The\nscales fell from my eyes as I read the following:<\/p>\n It was so much more than an \u201caha!\u201d moment. It was one of those divine taps on the\nshoulder. Perhaps I had misunderstood this vocabulary word all my life because\nI am not so skilled at sauntering.<\/p><\/p>\n\n\n\n Well actually, that\u2019s not entirely true. Deep down, my heart LOVES to saunter. Have you seen those Family Circus <\/em>installments that trace little Billy\u2019s meanderings with a dotted line? I definitely have a little child inside that absolutely delights in sautnering \u2013 exploring the nooks and crannies of God\u2019s creation in a spirit of curiosity, awe, and adventure. But many other parts of me rise up to squelch that childlike longing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My\nworkaholic and perfectionistic tendencies don\u2019t tend to leave space for little\nDerek to saunter. I experience restless urges within me \u2013 an urge to \u201cget\ncaught up,\u201d and urge to be constantly productive, and an urge to meet the\nimpossible expectations of others. My inner critic warns me that there is no time\nfor such childish pursuits. If I stop to smell the roses, an inner alarm goes\noff, warning me to move on to the next thing or raising my internal level of\nguilt about being selfish or lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\napparently did not know the meaning of the word \u201csaunter\u201d during my four years\nliving in Italy, but it was often right there in front of me. I recall feeling frequently\nannoyed at the locals, stuck behind them as they strolled aimlessly down the\nsidewalk \u2013 on those few Roman streets that are actually wide enough to have\nsidewalks. Somehow one Italian could effectively block an eight-foot wide\nspace, always walking down the middle, often smoking a cigarette, and veering\nrandomly to the left or the right as they sauntered along without a care in the\nworld. Italians are not exactly known for efficiency or industriousness,\nespecially the further south one goes. There I was, descended from neurotic\nNorthern Europeans \u2013 and even among my own people bearing a legendary\nreputation for productivity and overachieving. Needless to say, I did not blend\nin, nor did I try to. I found ways to beat the system and accomplish the tasks\nI felt driven to do \u2013 but not without resentment and frustration. I could have\nlearned some lessons from those Italians.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In\ntruth, we cannot live as humans without sauntering sometimes. Our ultimate\npurpose in life is to abide with the Lord\nforever. Each one of us carries deep within us a yearning for rest. If we do\nnot honor that yearning, it will find ways to express itself \u2013 often in\nfruitless fantasies or mindless escapes that do not actually refresh us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Desiring\nour happiness and wellbeing, God commands us to engage in Sabbath rest. He\nrests on the seventh day and invites us to participate in his rest. Easier said\nthan done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember the summer of 1995, at the end of my freshman year of college. I felt a conviction that, as a student, my labor was academic \u2013 which means observing Sunday as a day of rest from my studies. I made the decision not to do homework on the Lord\u2019s Day. I thought it would be incredibly hard to \u201cget my work done\u201d without utilizing Sunday. I was wrong there. Those adjustments proved easy to make, and helped me be more intentional about my time the rest of the week. There was no challenge academically. Rather, what surprised me was how exceedingly difficult it proved to spend the newly found time on Sunday in real rest and rejuvenation. I found my heart restless as it tried to indulge in various kinds of entertainment or pleasure. My prayer felt scattered and distracted. It surprised me that rest could be so hard!<\/p>\n\n\n\n I remember a similar restlessness on many of my retreats over the years \u2013 worrying about \u201cdoing it right.\u201d I eventually learned that the Lord would bless me regardless, and now I cherish my retreat days each year. They are one of the rare times in the year that I seem to feel greater freedom to saunter. At so many other times, there is something inside of me that seeks to sabotage authentic rest. It doesn\u2019t feel safe to be blessed and to receive. There is a vulnerability in it that is so wonderful and so terrifying at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I think \u201csauntering\u201d can be even harder for me, because sauntering still includes a certain sense of movement and purposefulness, albeit in a more carefree manner.\u00a0 I tend to set myself up with impossible tasks and then always feel in a hurry, always under stress. I walk fast. I drive fast. I plow through tasks. I am disciplined and driven. In that setup, there is little permission to move at a slower pace, to welcome interruptions as opportunities to receive, to wonder at and delight in the amazing beauty that surrounds me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These moments of sauntering, puttering, meandering \u2013\nwhatever the right term is \u2013 are so essential for me to feel safe, to be open\nand receptive, to notice and to care, to be in awe and to wonder, to learn, to\ngrow, to be generous, to appreciate, to be grateful, to affirm and encourage\nothers, and to praise God. I am so much less human if I do not allow space for\nsauntering in my life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\nsaun\u00b7ter<\/strong>\n
\n\/\u02c8s\u00f4n(t)\u0259r\/\n
\nverb<\/em>\n
\n1. walk in a slow, relaxed manner, without hurry\nor effort.\n
\n