The cry of my heart throughout my whole life is for peace and quiet. In this world, I never found such a place either emotionally, mentally, physically, or spiritually. Taking times of quietly waiting on the Lord, even if we must duck into the restroom for a few moments to refocus our center on the direction of God’s Spirit, is well worth the time and effort.
Regularly journaling our thoughts and emotions helps us to make sense of what is going on in our soul – our thoughts, emotions, and choices - and it rids our consciousness and subconscious of unwanted chaos. Writing – or typing - down our thoughts tends to assure us that we are taking the time to care about our mental and emotional health.
Some of us need constant noise in order to avoid silence. We turn on the television or radio when we get out of bed, and we keep that hum of confusion bombarding our soul until we fall exhaustedly into bed at night. If we take time in the quiet of nature to enjoy God’s creation, we are haunted by what we believe is unproductive time.
Too often we equate our soul with the “flesh.” We ignore our soul, and we attempt to crucify its needs. Since God gave me an understanding decades ago of the needs of our body, soul, and spirit, I write feverishly in the posts of my blog about caring for all three of these aspects of our human make-up.
I like to say, “We are human BE-ings, not human DO-ings.” We too often unreasonably schedule our life and spend more time running around in our car, excessively involved in our vocation in order to “get ahead,” or filling our calendar with activities rather than focusing on the main aspect of our life: resting in the abiding presence of the Trinity of God within us.
Prayer:
Father God, thank You for Your constant presence in our life. Forgive us for neglecting You by our inclination to stay busy in order to feel constructive. Remind us that waiting on You renews our strength and allows us to arise with wings like eagles (Isaiah 40:31). We want to live a life that is guided by Your Spirit, relies on trusting in You alone, and results in loving You with all our heart (Psalm 62:5-8; Mark 12:30). Teach us to rest from all physical, mental, and emotional activity several times throughout the day.
Remind us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18), and to walk in Your Spirit’s comfort and guidance (John 14:26, 16:13). Rather than sitting behind a desk all day, help us to consider ceasing from obligations for a few minutes to decompress and to clearly hear Your voice. We want to serve as a reminder to those in our sphere of influence that a personal relationship with You is vital for us to enjoy a deeply fulfilled life. We give You all the praise and glory for who we are.
Thoughts for the Day:
When one of our six senses experiences irritation of some sort, we are more apt to feel physically weary and emotionally drained. However, if we take time to wait on and to rest in the Lord, we find our self preferring this state of existence over what the world defines as success. This allows us to enjoy greater intimacy in our union with God, and we fall more deeply in love with Him more every day of our life.
