Tag Archives: quiet

A little quiet please

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Only a keyboard, guitar, and sometimes bass guitar.  Just the sound of clear voices and lilting melodies, an evening well spent.  I wish there were more like that.  I enjoyed the concert by Audrey Assad and JJ Heller (and her husband) so much and one of the biggest reasons was the simplicity and the quiet.  No giant stadium with thousands of people, but a church sanctuary with 200-300.  No electric guitars or drums or booming sound that makes your heart pound, but personal songs easily heard and understood.

I have nothing against loud music, being a big fan of that myself sometimes, but more and more my heart yearns for quietness.  It seems as I grow older I long for it more and more.  I wonder why?  I refuse to believe it’s because I’m not hip or cool anymore.  I don’t think it’s because I have narrow opinions or are old-fashioned.  I think it’s because the longer I live life amidst the clamoring of the world, the more I crave getting away, a reprieve, moments when there is nothing blaring at me and wI can think.  Sometimes, it’s because I’m tired.  When I’m tired I don’t want noise, I want stillness and solitude.

Jesus often went away by himself to pray and I’m sure to collect His thoughts, to process things that were happening and were going to happen, and to stay near God, his Father.  When I hear God’s voice whispering to me to come away and be quiet and I don’t do it, an agitated restlessness starts taking over.  If I try to soothe that agitation with other things, people, or activities it doesn’t work.  For some reason I just can’t give myself permission to stop “doing things” and rest.  That is a problem I need to let Jesus help me solve because it takes its toll.

Today I don’t feel well and I think it’s one of God’s ways of stopping me and forcing me to just be still and enjoy quiet.  Last night was the perfect head start.

The sun is shining outside and I hear one of my porch chairs calling my name.  I think I’ll take a book, in case I want to read, but mostly I think I’ll sit, soak in warm sunlight and stare out into the green grassy yard.  Thank you, Jesus, for quiet. You’re going to sit with me, too, right?

Only in returning to me
    and resting in me will you be saved.
In quietness and confidence is your strength.  Isaiah 30:15  NLT

 It’s useless to rise early and go to bed late, 
      and work your worried fingers to the bone. 
   Don’t you know he enjoys 
      giving rest to those he loves?  Psalm 127:2-3 The Message

The noise upstairs

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It just gets too quiet sometimes around our house these days.  Now that two of our girls are in college and our youngest is gone often with friends, I miss those sounds I’ve loved all throughout our life.  I miss the sounds of the girls giggling, talking, singing in their rooms or playing instruments, playing video games, having friends in and putting on plays, running in and outside the house, and just life.  I miss the sound of them walking up and down the stairs, doing dishes in the kitchen while singing to their iPod, typing away on the computer keyboard across the room, talking on their phones, or even watching TV.  Those sounds let me know my girls were home.

Last weekend all my girls were here, along with my oldest daughter’s boyfriend.  As John and I went to bed at night, I heard their footsteps upstairs, Continue reading →

This and That

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I haven’t blogged very consistently lately – haven’t had much to say.  I don’t think anyone would want to read something I write just because I feel I should write.  It’s more fun to write when I’ve had a new realization, when God has shown me something new, when something I’ve seen or heard parallels something in my walk with Him and all of you.  I’ve felt somewhat detached at times, not bad, just kind of quiet…it’s hard to describe.  Sometimes I think that the months of emotional ups and downs depleted me and  my emotions are in short supply right now – does that make sense?  I feel good, peaceful, optimistic, thankful, etc. just nothing in extremes now.  Famous last words.  I’m sure now that I’ve actually typed that the floodgates will burst open and I’ll be a blithering idiot spouting emotional exclamations any minute now.

I do have a few things that have come to mind, maybe worth mentioning:

We’re in the midst of winter where I live and it’s been a long, cloudy, cold one.  It’s gotten pretty snowy in the past week or so with a little ice and slush mixed in for fun.  Winter is not my favorite season, in fact it’s my least favorite BUT (and it’s a big but) I have heard God tell me not to complain.  I’ve heard many complaints lately about weather and life in general and it really is a drag.  I feel as if, when we complain, we’re saying to God, “Nope, what you made isn’t good” or “I don’t like what you’re giving me.  Sorry.”  I was reading in Genesis the other day about Noah and the ark and how God promised with his rainbow symbol that from that point on season would follow season, the earth would continue in its pattern without interruption and total destruction.  Continue reading →

Not so Desirable Front Row Seat

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harry-potter-poster_330x508It seems almost everyone is talking about the new Harry Potter movie, “The Half-Blood Prince” based on J.K. Rowling’s sixth book in the series.  I’ve read all the books and as usual, I think the book is so much better.  The movie is entertaining, for sure, but so much had to be left out and several liberties taken with original story.  [SPOILER WARNING – if you haven’t read the book or seen the movie yet and plan to, don’t read on]

At the end of the story, Death Eaters (the bad guys) have made their way into the previously secure school Hogwarts.  Draco, a student who has become a death eater, has been charged by the dark lord, Voldemort, with the task of killing the head master, Dumbledore.  He’s made several feeble attempts that failed but now has found Dumbledore in a tower (Harry & Dumbledore had just returned from a dangerous quest in another place) and stands with his wand pointed at him, poised to kill.  In the movie, before Draco gets there, Dumbledore tells Harry to run and get a professor and not to come back up to the tower under any circumstances.  Harry starts downstairs but then, hearing what’s happening, stays a floor underneath watching and listening.  He doesn’t run back up to help Dumbledore because He gave his word not to.

In the book, Harry turns to go get the professor and hears Draco come up to the tower where they are.  Before he can turn to say anything or help, Dumbledore wordlessly casts a spell that immobilizes him.  Harry stands under his invisibility cloak, stiff as a statue, leaning up against the wall, an unwilling spectator, unable to move or speak.  Dumbledore talks Draco down so he almost gives up and gives in, but the other death eaters reach the tower including the professor Harry was supposed to fetch.  Harry watches with horror, powerless, as the professor who was supposed to help actually raises his wand pointed at Dumbledore Continue reading →

Day Two

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lakesideWe woke to a beautiful, sunny day and once everyone got dressed and had some of Grandma’s eggs and sausage, we headed to the nearby lake to take a walk/jog.   I’m coveting this lake and the walking path right along the edge for several miles.  It was so pleasant to walk and jog along the twisting path underneath big shade trees, with the lake breeze blowing.  Ahhhh.

The girls and I went to Chili’s for lunch then Target and Barnes & Noble, before coming back to the house.  We all had yummy grilled chicken and pasta salad for dinner and then watched “The Knowing” with Nicholas Cage.  It’s a very interesting, albeit weird, movie.  I liked it – very thought provoking in parts.   Is our existence something that was planned or just a result of a string of amazingly coincidental cosmic accidents?   What would I do if I knew the end of my life was supposed to happen on a certain day in the near future?   Would that change the way I live?  Most definitely.  The truth is, we are all on the path to death (in our human bodies) and none of us know when.  The cliche of always living as if it were your last day kept coming to mind while we watched.  That’s actually not a bad idea!  The movie didn’t meet the “Mimi’s happy ending” preference, but I think it was worth watching.

It was fun to have a day when we could just do as we pleased.  That’s true vacation in my book – not a lot of plans, just time to “be”.  It’s actually been freeing to not have our phones or facebook.  I feel like we’re all present more in the time together and conversation here.  It’s peaceful.  It was a little crazy when the girls and I were out and we had no cell phone.  I thought, “What if we get turned around or lost?”  But then I realized I could go old school and use a pay phone or ask someone for directions.   You know, I existed happily before I had my cell phone, I just forgot what it was like.

I think it’s time to go sit somewhere and read.  Ahhhhh….

Unplugged

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Did you hear it?  The wails of three teenagers echoing across the entire state of Indiana when we told them we were having an “unplugged” no cell phone, no facebook trip to see their grandparents in NY this weekend?

John and I decided we’re going to leave cell phones at home (except for his in case of emergency) and not allow anyone on facebook either.  It’s only for five days but you would have thought we asked each of the girls to personally cut off their own arms and forever live in caves as hermits.

We live in a deluge of input, information, communication, entertainment, and technology and it seems to have caused American Christians to become spiritually malnourished, weak, subtly distracted and preoccupied.   I have to admit I have allowed it to make me that way.   When was the last time I sat down just to be quiet?  How about an evening without turning on the TV or sitting down in front of the Internet?  How about going for a walk outside and not taking the iPod?  Continue reading →