According to Webster, “scrabble” means “to scratch or claw frantically, to struggle as if by scraping or scratching.”

Most of us go scrabbling and scrambling through life, trying to make sense of the scattered tiles that make up our days. Our labor-saving technology has only made us busier.

Even at church we become over-booked. Thinking a busy life is a significant life, we pack more and more in, leaving precious little time for rest and replenishment.

In his essay “The Gate of Galilee,” Vance Havner said, “The South, where I live, has become mechanized, industrialized, urbanized—and paganized. When we left the country for the city, somewhere on that journey we lost our souls.” Learn to live as Jesus did—busy, but with time for solitude. Ministering—but with time for rest. Pressured perhaps—but buffered by prayer.

How do we move away from SCRABBLE?

First, get away and take inventory. Pitch a tent in the woods. Check into a state park. Walk by the lakeside, along a mountain path, or beside the ocean. Think. Pray. Ask yourself how you got so busy and how you can slow down a little. Ask God to teach you how to “take time to be holy.” Record some resolutions and realignments. Make at least one change in your pace of life.

Second, learn to say “No.” Remember—Jesus didn’t go around doing everything; He went around doing good. If you’re always available, you’ll be stretched too thin to be beneficial to anyone.

Third, preserve your Quiet Time. Jesus rose early to slip into the nearby mountains for prayer and communion with His Father. Or, He retreated to an olive grove. He entered the “closet,” closing the door, and talking to the Father in secret. During our “quiet times,” we can sense what God wants us to do each day. We learn to separate the important from the urgent and to seek God’s agenda for our hours.

Fourth, value solitude. We’re surrounded by people, traffic, noise around the clock, working in cubicles, keeping the TV or radio chattering, cell phones chirping. Our walls are paper thin, and we’ve lost the still waters and green pastures of the soul.

Thomas Edison said, “The best thinking has been done in solitude.” The Roman philosopher Seneca said: “The primary sign of a well-ordered mind is a man’s ability to remain in one place and linger in his own company.” Pearl Buck said: “Inside myself is a place where I live all alone and that’s where you renew your springs that never dry up.”

Cultivate the art of taking time for yourself. My fifth suggestion: Create some de-tech zones in your life. Turn off your cell phone, they’ll leave a message. Ditto your pager, house phone, PDA, and alarm clock.

I read about one executive who looked with utter exhaustion at his 389 e-mail messages. He took a deep breath, selected them all, deleted them with one fell swoop, and went for a pleasant walk in the nearby park. He suffered no ill consequences.

Sixth, read. Select a television-less night each week. Soft music is okay. Spend the evening the way our forefather’s did: rocking, reading, pondering, reading. Read yourself sleepy, say your prayers, and then go to bed. A good book is often a good tranquilizer.

Finally, keep a calendar. Calendars can be great tools for de-cluttering your life. Eugene Peterson suggests that the appointment calendar can get us unbusy. “When I appeal to my appointment calendar,” Peterson writes, “I am beyond criticism.” If we say, “I’m sorry, but my appointment calendar will not permit it,” we’re off the hook.

“I mark out the times for prayer, reading, leisure, for . . . silence and solitude. . . . I find that when these central needs are met, there is plenty of time for everything else.”

You can escape the hamster wheel and take some breaks. Make up your mind to do it. Make time for the Lord. Make time for your family. Make time for yourself.

You might even make a little family time for a leisurely game of SCRABBLE.

### This article was excerpted from Turning Points, Dr. David Jeremiah’s devotional magazine. Call Turning Point at 1-800-947-1993 for your complimentary copy of Turning Points.