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Good morning!

In the past, I have felt like I was in “the wilderness” a few times. I’m not sure how to describe it but it has a certain feeling. God has shown me things in that place that are irreplaceable, even though it doesn’t feel very good at the time.

Lately I have not felt “the wilderness” sensation even though I’m sensing change coming. This experience is much more of a quiet, by the brook, kind of a feeling. This experience has been kind of turning my thoughts upside down in some good ways. Whereas I normally love my To Do list and having a plan and fulfilling it, this is quite different.

As I take prayer walks, I don’t wear headphones. I don’t talk on the phone. I don’t play music or a podcast or gain some new “wisdom from the world.” I look at the flowers in people’s yards and say, “wow, God! How did I miss that! I have walked past this yard dozens of times!” I listen to the birds and notice so much color. Some plants are kind of ugly yet so different from the others. All along the way, I think of how God could have made one kind of plant, one kind of flower, one kind of so many things. But, no. He created so much beauty in nature that I find myself forgetting any requests that I had for God or what all my needs are that surely He needs me to tell Him (again!) Nope. The joy of the simplicity of quiet, space, silence. 

People talk about this quite a bit. But, I thought, do I actually do it? I don’t. Because it seems that there are so many important things I must do. But as the noise of the world just keeps getting louder, and demands of life/my phone/notifications, etc keep on coming, I crave the set apart time.

As I was talking to our daughter about earlier today, we have to train ourselves to create space to hear God. We can’t just try. We actually have to train ourselves. She had mentioned how she would try to just sit in the yard without music, videos, reading, phone calls. Just to sit. She noticed how hard it was until she decided that it is a discipline like anything else. And that made it a bit easier to start practicing.

There is reward in the place where there is stillness. It feels counterintuitive in this busy world, but it is the best place to settle. To make space to hear God…..I cannot imagine a more worthwhile goal!

Be still, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10