Quiet and ...Peace

The other day I sat down at the dining room table so I could write - lunch was over and it was a relatively slow time of the day - even quiet. Well, as quiet as can be in a family our size. As I picked up my pencil, the two youngest picked up their speed - squealing with delight as they darted in and out of the chairs and around the table. I kept writing - no one was crying yet, it was still for 'fun'. Then I heard a door shut and this sound - slightly discernible as music -come blasting through the room as one of the kids decided it was time to practice...the trumpet! Thoughts of one day hearing that child play beautiful music quickly escaped my mind. My concen.. concentra...concentration was f-a-d-i-n-g. Then someone else remembered they hadn't practiced their violin lesson yet - out came the violin. Children have to start somewhere, I reminded myself. It was definitely getting harder to think...let alone write something! I thought about yelling out "Quiet!" But, I just sat there... amazed... wondering what decibel if would finally peak out at. A symphony? Not. Well, at least not yet. Soon my ears had had enough. I packed up my things and retreated behind a closed door to...think.

Think! Think! Think! I couldn't think! So this is what Winnie the Pooh feels like ...my mind could just as well as been filled with fluff! What happened? For starters, I was distracted and experiencing confusion of mind...a disturbance of thought (part of our vocabulary lesson). It's easy to get distracted during the course of a day. It's easy for me to get my head turned and forget the task at hand. Many things clamor for our attention. Unfortunately, getting distracted is common in the spiritual realm, too. The Bible talks about the Word of God being choked because of us minding the cares of this world. Our attention is divided, because of distraction. The things of this world can often 'grab our attention' and get us off course. We can allow ourselves to set our minds, our affection, our hearts on the wrong things. I John 2 gives us a firm warning, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world; the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof. But he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever." We get distracted when we get double minded, trying to mind the things of this world and the things of God -"a double minded man is unstable in all his ways." We also get distracted when we worry, are anxious and dwell on things we can't do anything about, forgetting we are to be "casting all (our) care upon him: for he careth for (us)."

The Bible often uses the words: think on, dwell, ponder, meditate, and consider. Because it's easy for us to get distracted spiritually, we need to have our hearts fixed on some things. Psalm 112 says of a saved man, "his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." And in Psalm 57, David says, "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise."

How do we fix our hearts on the Lord, on spiritual things? It involves our thinking. What do we think on... what do we dwell on? The Psalms are full of things we are to think on, things we are to meditate on. Psalm 1:2 tells us to meditate or think on His law day and night. In Psalm 143 we are told to meditate on God's works. And of course in Philippians 4:8 we are told, "finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

Often though, for me to think, I need quiet. It is hard to dwell on something, to pay attention or heed something when it is noisy. Our Father reminds us, "Be still and know that I am God." We can't hear God speaking to us with all of the 'noise', the outcry of the world clamoring for our attention. Let's find a quiet place for some quiet time with the Lord every day. "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places." - Isaiah 32:18.

Lord, help me to find the quiet place today.

Have a blessed day,

Lori