In her biography of Leonardo da Vinci, Antonina Vallentin tells about the years he spent painting The Last Supper on the wall of a monastery in Milan.

Apparently, da Vinci spent many hours just sitting in front of that wall. Not painting. Just looking. Thinking. Praying, maybe.

Some of the monks noticed, and they began to resent what they called his "idle periods." They accused him of wasting time.

Leonardo's answer? "When I pause the longest, I make the most telling strokes with my brush."

I think we could learn something from that. So many of us rush from one thing to the next. And when we do stop, we fill every empty moment with a screen.

Early in Mark's gospel, Jesus spends an entire evening healing the sick. The whole town is crowded around the door. Then Mark tells us, "In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed." (Mark 1:35)

It doesn't take long for his disciples to come hunting for him. "Everyone is searching for you!" they say.

In other words… you're wasting time.

Today I pray that God give you the grace to pause. 

May you find, in the stillness, the presence of the One who gives you life. 

And when you return to your work, may your stokes be more telling, your vision clearer, and your life more fully rooted in grace.

Prayer: God of grace, in our busy days, lead us to time apart. Time to rest. Time to be still. Time to renew our souls in your presence. And through that time, bring us healing, new insight, and restored life. Amen.

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