When the future looms hazy and distant and wide open without the clearest sign of what next step to take-well-I don’t have answers for that.
It’s a bit like standing on one side of Lake Michigan and knowing that the other side is there but all the squinting in the world won’t bring up a tree line. The first time I stood on a storied pier and took all of that water in, it felt like my eyes were just falling into the familiar. Oceans don’t have visible boundaries. In my little world, lakes always did.
It’s hard to know how to process that. To know that there is a boundary and that every glint and ripple is contained within it. We do the same with life, squinting to fill in the lines of when we might reach the other side.
Being? Resting? Waiting for the boundary line to creep up over the horizon? That feels unnatural.
But God has said, “Be still and know.” Yes. We know Him in the stillness. We hear Him. We see His hand when we rest from our striving.
There’s this, too. Sometimes? In the stillness? Something rises up. A different kind of knowing grows in the space of quiet, rest, being. It’s the kind of knowing that fills in the lines of the other side a bit. It writes stories on our hearts and uncovers dusty corners full of things that need to be told.
Sometimes next isn’t drawn out in the hustling and reaching and hurry upping. It comes in the waiting and stillness and quiet.
Well, you know I get this. And that I can relate to every word of it. So true and so beautifully written, friend. And believe it or not, a needed reminder right now. There’s been a lot doing and busying lately and not enough stillness. Body and soul are stretched thin… Time to make space to breathe again. Yes, even during the holidays. : )
Stillness is not always easy, but it’s often so good. We think that the opposite of worry and confusions is peace, but sometimes, it’s just choosing to wait even when you don’t know what’s next.
… always such deep food for thought … thank you!
I have a serious shortage of stillness and quiet right now. Everyone in the family is sick but me, the packing, the loan documents, the sale of our home documents the weight is heavy. I had no idea how much stillness and quiet I required. Thankful this is a short season of busy…we’ll be in our new home by Christmas with the rest of our lives to unpack.
Thank you…needed this today!
I’ve never thought about an ocean or a lake like that – contained, with limits and boundaries. I probably will never think of it the same!