Spring break is here!!! And it’s half over….
Despite my efforts to plan a week of nothin’-much, I am half-way through a week that keeps filling itself up with extraordinary but urgent things.
Not being a glass-half-empty kind of girl, I’ve laid out a plan for today that will involve significant nothing time. I have my favorite camping chair (it’s a full-length lounge chair that reclines and has a foot rest that raises up!), my Bible and current book, and 7 kids who want to go to the park down the street. In short order we will be heading out, balls and yard darts in hand, to run and jump and scream and play…and soak in the newly returning sun and in the ever-present Son.
It’s odd, sometimes, the places we must look to find space for soaking in God’s presence. At a park amidst 7 kids (five of whom are not my own, two of whom are mine and will be compensated in kind for coming and playing with all the little ones whose own parents are taking a much-needed break of their own today) may not sound like an ideal setting for a good soak, but God does indeed present himself in rather unusual places.
The LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the LORD, for the LORD is about to pass by.” Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.
1 Kings 19:11-12
Where do you find God’s gentle whispering?
March 16, 2011 at 10:15 am
Some of my sweetest times in my life include a gaggle of kids at the park. My mind gets quiet there; it’s a blessing I can’t explain, but it’s good. I’m hoping the heavy rains and storms will let up a bit so I can do a little park hopping of my own next week. 🙂
March 16, 2011 at 10:22 am
The youth did a Sunday school lesson recently on this passage. The message they pulled from it was that God isn’t always in the huge moments of life. Sometimes God’s whisper comes in the mundane, everyday, dull moments. Part of our duty as Christians is to plod along, knowing that God is with us.
This Spring, I’m hearing God’s whisper as I watch the slowly emerging leaves on the tree limbs I can see outside my bedroom window. Each morning, I’m checking their progress knowing that Spring is coming!
March 16, 2011 at 3:56 pm
True, Lisa, there is something refreshing about watching kids at play. Today I watched them walk back and forth on the benches of some bleachers and appreciated their ability to find joy in simple things.