Coming apart for a couple of days so we don’t come apart. Seeking a bit of peace so we don’t fall to pieces. Because sometimes we have to hide to find. Spending a handful of days to reap a heartful of Him. Praying you find a few quiet moments today to hear His heart whispers, […]
Still Saturday: Segments of Solitude
Henri Nouwen called solitude . . . “the furnace of transformation.” This doesn’t refer to mere personal privacy for a twelve-second pit stop where we get a quick fix to reenter the race. It’s more than that. It’s an oasis of the soul where we see ourselves, others, and especially our God in new […]
Still Saturday: In Every Given Moment
“The present moment is all that is real. The past is gone. The future is not yet. We remember the past and anticipate the future, but we always do so in the present. Reality is always now. And the single most important aspect of reality is that God is present in it every moment. To […]
Still Saturday: The Rhythm of the River
Stillness is the canvas against which movement can become beautiful. We can only appreciate movement against the background of stillness. Were everything kinetic, we could not know what movement is. As sound is sistered to silence, movement is sistered to stillness. . . . A river blends music of movement with an enduring and accompanying depth […]
Still Saturday: Who’s Waiting?
So many times I whine that I’m “waiting on God,” but the truth is He is the one waiting on me. In our confession, surrender, and stillness God works a miracle: He turns our “waiting” into praise. What joy it must bring the Father when His children begin to understand that kind of love. Can […]
Still Saturday: No Hurry
“There is a particular weariness that rises in this space of waiting. But I don’t think it’s the waiting itself that is wearying me – I think it’s my resistance to the wait. I’m like a dog straining at the end of a lead, wearing the pads of my feet raw on the sidewalk as […]
Still Saturday: Still Again
I stop. Still. And wonder. Why does the breeze ripple the lake everywhere but in its center? Why is the center so still? So calm? So clear? Is it because it’s gone deep in the center? Or is it because it’s simply centered? And can’t be ruffled? Or touched by the wind? I am hushed. […]
Still Saturday: All Shaken Up
And we did do some talking, but eventually this wise woman said to me, “Ruth, you are like a jar of river water all shaken up. What you need is to sit still long enough that the sediment can settle and the water can become clear.” ~Ruth Haley Barton in Invitation to Solitude and Silence Welcome […]
Still Saturday: Here I Am, Father
A still morning Because I am loved and I love, I don’t have to worry about my response or lack of it. I don’t have to struggle with my desire to understand. I don’t have to wrestle with my feeling of unworthiness. All I have to do is be still, stay close and let you […]
Still Saturday: When Talkativeness Prevails
Silence is nothing else but waiting for God’s Word and coming from God’s Word with a blessing. But everybody knows that this is something that needs to be practiced and learned, in these days when talkativeness prevails. Real silence, real stillness, really holding one’s tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness. […]
