Rest, part II

"If it were easy then anybody could be a doctor." Those words resonate in my mind daily even though it has been thirty years since I heard them for the first time. My neuroanatomy professor made this pronouncement after each assignment given. The neuroanatomy course was one of the most demanding of the basic sciences, the last lecture course of the first year of medical school. We never saw the professor during the lectures. The course was on closed circuit TV. His hands, the pro sections of the brain and spinal column and diagrams were all that we ever saw. His voice was like the voice of God. Meeting him I was surprised he appeared so ordinary.

I also recall the words of a colleague, a favorite endocrinologist, when I was begging him to see a patient sooner than his office schedule would allow. "I cannot create time!" he declared.

No, humans cannot create time. The Divine did, ordering it in such a way, with light and dark, winter, spring, summer and fall to give natural periods of rest. In our attempt to be like gods we have discovered electricity and harnessed it into a nonstop flow of activities, ideas and information.

So what could be more powerful than turning off the lights, unplug the appliances, even the oven, for a few hours a week? Think of it as conservation. The energy you save may be more than just your own.

Yes, if it were easy anyone would do it. Just like the words of my neuroanatomy professor pushing me to study, this is a challenge to arrange my week in such a way that there is time for a period of rest or Sabbath.