Be Still!

Tonight my wife and our two beautiful children watched a fireworks show that rivaled any 4th of July I have ever seen.  We have the fortune of living in a home located on four acres on the edge of a small town. Our home has a spacious front porch with two large rocking chairs that face the east.  Tonight,  God gave us a show that brought all four of us to our feet with excitement and joy.  The skies were covered with storms that surrounded our home but never quite made it to us.  Because of storms to the east the lightening in that direction was spectacular.  We quietly set on the front porch in our rocking chairs, with soft music playing over the sound system, and we took the time to watch what God had to offer.  The lighting seemed to dance as with the music.  First across the sky from the north to the south. Then it would strike straight down as if God was throwing it himself.  Next the thunder would announce itself in a rather large voice and shortly more lighting would dance across the sky.  Mixed in this cavalcade of beauty the wind would blow in the scent of rain and the coolness in the air made one feel refreshed.  As I set there it dawned on me how important it is to take the time to be still.  We should try as humans, spouses, parents and friends to spend an amount of time each day in meditation and reflection.  We should take time to be still in our being.  To reflect on our spirit and meditate with our soul.  We spend our lives in pursuit of so many things that we forget to take time to enjoy the beauty around us or to even marvel at our own existence.  

God knew that we would spend our lives in pursuit of to many things and to many places and to many possessions.  He gave us specific instructions regarding this matter.  “Be still and know that I am God”.  He was telling us to stop.  Look at what’s around you.  Listen to your life.  Listen to the earth.  Listen to your children playing.  Listen to the sound of your heart beating and to the very sound of your breathing.  Know that he is God and all this comes from him and was made by him. Best of all he put it all here for us to delight in.  Find joy in all things.  Delight in the taste of an apple.  Marvel at the smell of a rose.  Find rapture in the sight of an orange sunset.

When you live on property life can be hectic on Saturday.  We have so many chores to do and land and property to maintain.  As with most Saturdays I had plenty of work to do but this last Saturday I took my time and worked at a more reasonable pace.  However,  even working at a steady pace, with the heat in Texas I was tired at the end of the day.  I had put some new lights in the front of our home, shining up on our magnificent windmill.  I walked out to the edge of our property to see how they looked.  It was already dark and the sky had already taken on that life of it’s own that happens once the Sun goes down.  The stars filled the sky in a cascade of twinkling light. The moon, how I love the moon, was smiling on the earth as it does ever night.  I set down in the grass and I was admiring the job I had done on the lights.  Soon my wife came out to inquire as to why I was sitting in the grass in the middle of our yard.  After some coaxing she set down with me and we talked about how lucky we are to live where we live.  We then did something I will remember for the rest of my life.  We both laid down in the grass.  I know that as kids we all played in the grass day in and day out, but for some reason as the years pass we lose that innocence and grass loses its appeal. (What a shame)    As Lorna and I laid there we were so over come with the amount of stars and the appearance of the moon that we stayed there.  Very quiet.  For almost an hour.  We talked and thought about the vastness of space and about the power of God.  What a special time and what a release of stress, fatigue and worries.

So starting tomorrow take time to be still.  Some people do it early in the morning.  Some people late at night and still some when they find they can.  Try to erase all thoughts from your mind. Listen with awe at the things around you.  Concentrate on your heart beat and the sound of your breathing.  It will take some practice.  It did for me.  With time and patience you will open a world that you will wonder how you ever did without.  And maybe just maybe if you listen close enough… and you are still enough… you will hear God talk to you.  And maybe just maybe he will say I am, I love you, and job well done.   

Perry D. Hoover