Being Still

I recently returned from a visit to my parents' house in Kansas where I spent four days enjoying the peace and quiet of the farm. It was lovely and needed but when I arrived back home, I discovered that our phone service (the land line) was not working. No big deal, we use our cell phones more often anyway. It was reported but the following day, instead of correcting the problem, we also lost our internet and cable service. Going the wrong direction, don't you think guys?

Well, it was the end of the week before our service was restored. Did you catch that? It was AN ENTIRE WEEK before we got back our internet, cable, and phone service. What is this, the dark ages?  Keep in mind that I had just spent four days watching the news and RFD TV.  (Although I hate to admit it but the old reruns of Hee Haw, the Marty Stuart Show, and several others that I don't even remember was pretty entertaining.) Where were my talk shows and reality shows, my facebook updates and email? It was excruciating. It was frustrating. It was...

Enlightening.

The second day into the disappearance of civilization, I decided to make the best of it. I went to the stack of books I hadn't got around to reading and picked out the thickest one. On the third day, having finished the thick book and moved on to book #2, I couldn't stand the quiet anymore and played music on my iphone. I found the music distracted me from really focusing on what I was reading. Imagine that...distractions that disrupted my focus.

Hmmm...a tiny seed of revelation was beginning to form in my brain. And then I got to my devotions for the day. It was all about being still, shutting out the distractions of this world in order to hear God's voice. The revelation began to sprout. And then I went to a board meeting and the member who was doing devotions this month spoke on...you guessed it--being still.

Okay, now I had a full blown bush growing in my head. Was God trying to tell me something? Just about the time I was starting to get a clue, BOOM. We get our service back. Whew! Was I a happy girl! I turned on the television to a talk show and one of the first things I noticed was that they were glorifying an "alternative" lifestyle. I promptly turned it off and grabbed book #3.

So what did I learn from this past week? 1) Shutting out the distractions of this world is much easier to do when you are forced into it. 2) My focus is definitely clearer when I turn off the "noise" in my life. And 3) Silence is not such a bad thing after all.

Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things. Philippians 4:8