Slowing Down the Mind, Experiencing
the Presence of God
After a busy half week in North
Alabama full of fun and people and things to do, I am sitting at my
desk/dinning room table in Central Alabama watching it rain slowly on the
lake. The leaves on the trees are changing
colors and there is a touch (just a touch) of fall in the air. I am “supposed” to be turning a sermon into a
blog post and reviewing Medicare part D and Supplemental information so that my
wife and I can “do what needs to be done.”
Instead the rain, as it often does, has made me pensive. Like so many human beings my brain often
takes off at high speed to figure out everything that needs to be done in my
life, including some things that really do not need to be done at all. At times I convince myself that everything
that needs to be done needs to be done right now, and probably by me.
It is days like today that remind me,
and hopeful some of you as well, that life is a gift and that if we can slow
our bodies down and our minds down at times, that we can appreciate and enjoy
that gift even more. There is so much
beauty in this world: the lakes, the trees, the mountains and hills, and the
people in our lives. On a day like today
I can enjoy the beauty without having to do anything to change it, or fix it,
or make it better and more beautiful. I
can think about my friends and family members and experience the emotions I
feel when I am in their presence. I can
reflect on how much they mean to me and how my life is better because they are
in my it. I can even reflect on the
times I have hurt others or others have hurt me and turn all the hurt over to
God. I can ask forgiveness for the hurts
I have caused and let go of the hurt I have received. (I do recognize that prayer and good therapy
can be necessary as well.)
There are places for me to go today
and people for me to see, but this peaceful interlude might just change how I treat
the people I meet and perhaps even how I treat myself.
Remember, it was in the ‘Still small
voice” that Elijah knew God, and it was in the quite places when he was alone
that Jesus was able to commune with God the Creator, thus renewing His strength
for His journey. I pray that today you
and I will also find blessing and peace, strength and courage.
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