Summer’s long days, warm sunshine, and outdoor activities are cherished, but finding balance between work and rest is hard. If we’re not intentional, we will spend all our time running through summer and no time actually being present in it. But pausing to enjoy peaceful presence can be essential to finding peace and contentment, especially in the midst of busyness.
As I come to my morning quiet time, the house is still and dark. I look forward to this time every morning. I come to this place and believe God will meet me here. I have faith He is enough for this moment, this day, this life.
That’s my ideal morning. But many days are not so serene. Often my thoughts are running rampant from the minute I wake up and despite my repeated attempts, I cannot seem to quiet them for more than a minute before I am once again thinking about the worries and trials that fill my small world.
Last week I was longing for spring as I battled a cold north wind all day. This week, warmer temperatures, and high winds leave me longing for summer. Spring in the Texas Panhandle is rarely idyllic. Most of the time, it is a windy battle between winter and summer. Much of the time, I find myself longing to be someplace other than where I am today. So how do we find contentment?
Go placidly amidst the noise and haste and remember what peace there may be in silence.
I often think of this line when I find myself in a crowed store brightly decorated for the holiday and full of people noisily shopping and in an anxious hurry to get finished and go on to ‘the next thing’ (whatever that may be). Amid the chatter of hundreds of conversations, the squeak of carts, the clatter of items being loaded and unloaded, the rustle of plastic bags, the beep of scanners, the scolding of children, and the faint hum of Christmas music, I will sometimes remind myself to slow down and ‘remember what peace there may be in silence’ and it is the silence of my heart that opens my eyes.
When I was a young mother, it often seemed like summer days would stretch out almost indefinitely and there seemed to always be another day just around the corner to do all those things my children and I wanted to do. But all too soon, the days would shorten, the nights turn cooler, and before long the leaves would be falling from the young trees in our yard
This morning I am thinking about those everyday family moments that we rarely treasure when they are common, daily occurrences, like gathering around the dinner table. Maybe your family eats together at the table every evening or maybe you don’t remember the last time your family sat down to a meal together. Every family has different habits and traditions. But time passes quickly for all of us, and family traditions often change or disappear as children grow up. Sometimes parents and often young adults think there will be plenty of time for circumstances to change; that there will be ample opportunities and an endless number of holidays to gather… later. But the truth is, we never know when the last time will be our last time together or the last missed opportunity the last opportunity.
I have a friend who once said, “I carry the grace of the gospel in cupped hands like water. I can barely grasp it.” And the truth was and is, in her humility, she does carry it like water – spilling it on all in her path.
“Jacob looked down his path as if it were the current of a great river. As he stared into the flow he saw the seemingly unending line of moments given to him. Then, like a man marking a trail, he began to put his prayer between the moments, making the common profound by pausing.” ~ Jacob’s Journey by Noah BenShea