I am prone to making lists of things I need to do. I am not as prone to completing them as I am to naming them. Case in point – the chandelier over my table. I have had it on my list to clean for so long that one would think it is a masthead rather than a bullet point. But the time finally came! My chandelier is sparkling clean, even though it was a long time coming.
Life for me is like that in more areas than I like to admit. Oh, I’m good at doing some things right away such as laundry and grocery shopping. After all, not doing them can lead to real problems. But those things in life that one wonders if anyone would even notice are easy to set aside for “a better time.” And I realize it isn’t just the physical world in which this occurs; it happens in my spiritual life, as well.
The last two weeks, I was away on adventure/vacation with my husband. We drove over 2300 miles. While we talked a lot along the way, there were also many periods when we just rode in silence and my mind wandered to other areas of my life. As I traveled the beautiful plains and took in the wonder of the mountains and formations as well as of the prairies, my sense of being was stirred. The line from Paul to the Athenians in Acts (Acts 17:28) “Him in whom we live and move and have our being” kept rising to the top and filling my mind, heart and soul. I felt called to spend more time in silence, listening, watching, just being. It was good to set down the constant “doing” for a bit and focus on “being.”
This past Sunday, the Letter of James reminded us that faith compels us to works, to faith lived out in the open not just in our minds and hearts. Our faith does move us to act and to speak. There is so much that we Christians can and should do to grow our relationships with our LORD and one another as well as to serve our LORD by serving His daughters and sons. But there is also a need to “be still and know that I am LORD” (Psalm 46:11).
Our times are demanding. There is so much to do. But we must also “be.” We must take time to sit in silence with our LORD and allow the awe to wash over us. We fill our prayer time with so many requests. We need to also allow silence so that we might hear the LORD’s call to us and response.
The time away was just what I needed. I returned with energy and determination. Got that chandelier cleaned! But I also remembered as I took in the grandeur of that landscape how very small I am in the scheme of things, yet I am precious to my LORD. Made me want to just spend time with my LORD. No words. Just silent attention. No doing. Just being.
Until tomorrow, let us all love well.
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