Be Still

I usually have an idea for my next post floating around in my mind by Sunday or Monday. This week that didn't happen. It is Wednesday and I'm just now deciding on the subject for this post.

Twenty years ago, I took a trip to Ireland with three wonderful friends. We landed in Shannon, after my eardrums nearly exploded due to the steep descent, hopped in our rental car, and began one of our grandest adventures together.

Sharon, Valerie, Kim, and Brenda ready to tour the grounds of Muckross House, a 19th-century Victorian mansion in Killarney National Park, County Kerry, Ireland

I could write a lot about that trip, but this post is only about our visit to Blarney Castle. I do need to inform you that Sharon and I tended to be the big talkers every day prior to our stop at Blarney Castle. Brenda and Valerie were quieter because you can't really have four big talkers jibber-jabbering all day every day.

I'm sure Sharon and I were chatting happily as we waited in line to see the actual 'Blarney Stone'. Brenda and Valerie decided to skip the tradition of kissing it. Sharon and I, however, were eager to have the full experience and so we puckered up and gave that cold stone a big ol' kiss.

We then enjoyed walking around the grounds and gardens before hopping back into our rental car and hitting the narrow curvy roads of Ireland once again. We were barely out of the parking lot when a hush fell over the car. I'm not sure who said it first, but we've all repeated many times since that day that kissing the Blarney Stone did not give Sharon and Kim eloquent speech but rather left them speechless for a time. We laughed then and many times since then about how Sharon and I couldn't stop talking before kissing the stone but went silent after kissing it.

Perhaps sometimes the most eloquent thing to say is nothing.

So, there you have it. But unlike Seinfeld, this post is not about nothing because being still is a very important something. Maybe we need to remind ourselves to "Be still and know that God is God." (Psalm 46:10) Maybe we need to remember that we can only really hear when we close our mouths, open our ears and hearts, and quiet our minds.

This world can be a very noisy place. Brenda and Valerie were probably thankful for some silence, which I assure you did not last all that long. Maybe we need to take the time to make room for more silence in our lives.

"We need to find God, and He cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature - trees, flowers, grass - grows in silence, see the stars, the moon, and the sun, how they move in silence...We need silence to be able to touch souls." Mother Teresa

I think Max can smell spring in the air.

There’s no need for a piece of sculpture in a home that has a cat. ~ Wesley Bates

Time

Time is a strange thing. Sometimes it seems to go so quickly and sometimes it seems to move slower than molasses in the winter. Remember watching the minutes tick by on the analog clock on the classroom wall of the class that was so boring you'd give anything to be able to get out into the hallway and lie down by the wall and go to sleep? Okay, maybe no one else had that experience but it happened to me nearly every quarter when I was a college student. Of course, I would have never fallen asleep in the hallway, but I was so desperately bored I imagined that I would.

Time always moves at the same pace; sixty seconds in a minute, sixty minutes in an hour, twenty-four hours in a day. It's sometimes very hard to bring the way we perceive time into balance with the reality of the way it is. Summers as kids seemed endless, but as teachers they seemed to zip by. Waiting at the doctor's office for thirty minutes seems like an eternity, but a thirty-minute sitcom is over before it barely begins.

Enjoying Myrtle Beach

I always think of C. S. Lewis when I think about time and the puzzling way it sometimes stands still, and at others it goes by so fast you almost have to grab something to hang onto to keep from falling down. The fact that we experience time in such different ways points to the fact that we were not made for time but for eternity. God is outside of time, Lewis says, God is in the eternal now. It's nearly impossible for us to even begin to grasp what a non-linear existence is like. I think the more we are able to live in the present moment, rather than the past or the future, the closer we become to understanding what heaven will be like.

However, we simply cannot and should not live in this world without considering time. We cannot live a very organized or productive life, if we don't sometimes think about what's next and plan for the future. It's also important to look at the past in order to give thanks for blessings and also to learn from mistakes made.

God created day and night, "...and there was evening, and there was morning - the first day" Genesis 1:5. He created seasons and years, so we know time is not a bad thing. No, time is a very good thing and to be used for God's glory while we are in this world.

This is not the way I thought this post was going to go. I intended to write about how we sometimes try to manipulate time; to stretch out the good things and shorten the not so good things. Neither is a very wise practice.

For now, I'm just going to leave it with these thoughts. Maybe we all need to let time and how we are using it simmer a bit on the back burner of our minds. It might be interesting to see what God has in mind for us to learn.

"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us." J. R. R. Tolkien

"Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil." Ephesians 5:15-16

"Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person." Colossians 4:5-6

Boxed In

"Boxed in" - being physically or metaphorically confined, restricted, or unable to move freely.

Sometimes, maybe many times, it is possible to take a negative and make a positive. If you enjoyed watching The Middle as I did, you might remember the episode involving actress Amy Sedaris as a very high energy motivational consultant hired by Mr. Ehlert. Amy, the motivational consultant does a lot of crazy things in order to improve car sales at Ehlert's Motors.

The thing that really got my attention and still pops into my mind from time-to-time, even years after the series was cancelled, is a little speech Amy gives to Frankie Heck. It will not translate well into writing because it relies totally on voice tone, inflection, and facial expression. Hopefully you'll be able to use your imagination and get my reason for sharing it.

In a very depressed and low-energy voice with several sighs and a sad facial expression, Amy says, "You can say, I get up every morning, I deal with a mean boss, the economy sucks (not a fan of this word, but I am quoting here), and no one's buying cars."

Then she lifts her chin, smiles and in a very upbeat, happy voice says, "Or you can say, I get up every morning, I deal with a mean boss, the economy sucks, and no one's buying cars."

She's saying exactly the same thing, but it sounds totally different. Her point is that even if you can't change your situation, you can change your perspective which will change your attitude. You can look for opportunities rather than limits. Nothing has to change in order to see things differently, except your perspective. It works for big and small things. Just change the way you say it and you'll see it differently.

Feeling "boxed in" is a negative. Looking at the ways your choices are limited creates frustration and depression. What if you flipped the script and looked at the sides of the box as safety rather than limits? What if you concentrated on what's in the box and how it could best be used at present? Maybe being boxed in isn't such a bad thing.

Fun in an appliance box circa 1983

God's word is filled with limits. He tells us very clearly many things not to do. He sets boundaries for us, not to box us in, but to provide protection for us. Parents and teachers set limits for children out of love, and we can be sure that all of God's limits are also made out of love. He is absolutely working through the difficult circumstances to draw us closer to Himself and make us more like His Son.

We all find ourselves in challenging circumstances from time to time. Years ago, when I was still very young and idealistic rather than old and idealistic, our Bible Study Fellowship teaching leader said in one of her lectures, "Everyone here is in a trial, coming out of a trial, or getting ready to enter a trial." I remember kind of tilting my head and thinking I'm not so sure about that. Well, if age has taught me anything, it's that Joan was right. Not every trial is big enough to mention much, but all of us are constantly going in and out of challenging circumstances.

Some of us may be feeling a bit boxed in right now. We may be tired and sometimes wonder if we will make it through to a different situation. I feel quite confident that we will, and I also think that we will look back at the hard things not as limits but as gifts. Wouldn't it be wise to realize the circumstance we are in presently is truly an opportunity to count blessings even on the hard days? What if the boxed in feeling is actually more of a gift than a trial? What if all trials contain hidden gifts for those who are willing to look for them?

Change will come, the lid will be lifted off the box, or a door will be cut into its side. When this happens, we will be able to fully appreciate and enjoy what is next only if we truly learn to give thanks to God in the midst of the trying things now. So, wherever you find yourself today, in a trial, coming out of a trial, or getting ready to enter a trial; remember change is inevitable, God is sovereign, His word is true, and when you look back the most joy will come from having trusted Him through it all!

On a box

Have a nice day!