What are you busy doing right now? Projects for work? Household chores? Perhaps you are intently focused on playing a video game you enjoy, or maybe you have been talking with family or friends about various interests or concerns. Whatever you are busy doing, have you considered slowing down long enough to ask yourself: “What is the most important thing I need to be thinking about or working on at this particular moment or season in my life?”
If you are like me, I can spend hours or even days “running” – convinced I’m doing important work, or making important connections, or even praying important prayers, when in reality I’m simply off on a tangent – spinning my wheels!
So what is the remedy to mindless pursuits that accomplish little if anything toward achieving our true purpose? I believe often it is silence that provides us with answers to this question – yes you heard me – silence is the key. On my desk I have a glass plaque in with these words are etched softly: “Be Still and Know that I Am God.” (Ps 46:10)
Every time God reminds me of these words I wonder at their meaning. Is it silence and stillness before God’s awesome presence that this Psalm is suggesting? Or is it in those moments of quiet reflection and openness to God, that He wants to speak and lead so that God’s existence will become more real than any of my petty concerns? I don’t know, but I suspect it is both and more.
One of my favorite places to spend time alone is a simple little retreat nestled in the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi river. It is a place I go frequently to think, to read, to pray, to listen, and to play like a child before his God. It is also a place where God almost always greets me with a Word or Message that heals my soul. I don’t go there as often as I’d like (or probably should) because life makes many demands on my time & because I often make excuses that keep me away. But mainly what I do at this special place, is wait. Just wait – in silence. And more often than not – God shows up.
When do you take the time to wait before God? Do you have a special place where you go to wait for Him? How do you step away from life’s busyness long enough to hear the voice of God – or to just let the sounds of silence heal your soul?
Today, I challenge you to get some alone time – time away from thoughts and cares, time free from work and chores, time that will almost stand still. These are the moments that give us pause – those short stretches of time that seem to linger – it is something we all need: A time to be still before God. A time to just stop and rest. A time to wait.