One of the most serious dangers confronting those who minister in the city is that their lives come to be built on frenzy and compulsive busyness. This usually leads to a lack of focus, a tendency to accumulate more and more things, a collapse of reflection, and the cultivation of a personal culture of obligatory tiredness.
This personal culture then becomes socially infectious so that one may communicate little to others other than one’s own exhaustion–not a very kind gift to people who may already have enough problems of their own. The practice of silence and solitude, including the cultivation of inner stillness and inner peace, is a vital component of an urban spirituality.
from Through our Long Exile