I live in the middle of nowhere in the UP (sort of between the toolies and the boonies). I live on a dirt dead-end road where my neighbors are not very close at all. I live on 40 acres of farmland with no sidewalks or streetlights and no traffic. When I first moved out here (almost 40 years ago) with my husband, I had a hard time adjusting to the quiet. I grew up in the city with traffic, neighbors right next door, streetlights, sidewalks, people, etc. So moving to an area that became pitch black at night and deathly silent most of the time was very difficult to adjust to. When I was home, I made sure there was always noise in the house, whether it was the tv or music. At night, all outside lights were on to shine thru the windows. But as I said, that was over 40 years ago. As I have gotten older, I find that I appreciate the stillness of where I live. Sitting on my deck with a cup of coffee in the mornings brings only the sounds of a tree branch creaking in the breeze, a woodpecker doing his thing in the woods across the road and birds singing their wake up songs. There is a quiet stillness to my environment. I love it so much that when the occasional car or truck goes down my road and breaks into the stillness, I become irritated.
Quiet stillness can be very good for the spirit as well as the physical health of a person. The worries and stresses of life seem to fade away as the silence washes over you. You concentrate more on the small sounds you are hearing around you rather than the clamor of chaos that fills your head at times. You listen to your heartbeat and your thoughts focus on what is important and what is not. You gain a clearer perspective on those tasks that you can control and those you cannot. It helps you to understand what you should let go and what you should keep working on. It allows you to see what should be given to God to take care of.
So when the worry and stress of life seems to overwhelm you, take a moment and enjoy the quiet and stillness and focus on what you can do and what you should give up to God to do for you.
"If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently and replace it tenderly in its Master's presence. And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back and place it again in Our Lord's presence, though it went away every time you brought it back, your hour would be very well employed."
St. Francis de Sales
"The LORD himself will fight for you; you have only to keep still." Exodus 14:14
"Be still and know that I am God!" Psalms 46:10
No comments:
Post a Comment