Stop. Yes, you heard me: stop. Stop what you are doing (which is reading) and close your eyes for a few seconds, or minutes, or hours, or however long you just want to sit there.
Okay, now that you have paused for a moment, think about how you felt with your eyes being closed. Did you feel stressed, agitated, anxious? I hope not. I hope you felt peace, understanding, and relaxed. If you really think about it, how many times in the day do we just stop? If you are a human being then not much. For me, stopping is a necessity that I may not always acknowledge. Things like sunsets, starry nights, walks by the river are ones that make me stop and listen. I listen to the silence, to God, to my heart. It's hard to actually want to stop. I think we as humans fear stopping in the midst of our daily lives to pause and reflect, because that is when we become vulnerable to the feelings and thoughts that are then able to penetrate our hearts in the deepest way.
A couple of weekends ago I graduated from high school. That weekend definitely did not allow me to pause at all! It's funny how the camera can freeze moments in our life that we can look back on and cherish, because we weren't able to stop long enough to do it without a camera and actually capture the moment with our minds and hearts. My graduation weekend was a wonderful blur of excitement, anticipation; shared with family and friends.
My grandmother Anne, who is pictured here with me, is a person I am truly in awe of. She has the wonderful gift of hospitality (which means she is sometimes quite busy) and yet, somehow, she always finds time in her day to just stop, talk to Jesus, or kiss her grandkids. ;) She has an advantage though, my grandmother has lived a few years longer than me and knows how to balance her life. I appreciate that about her and the time she takes to listen to me or to just stop and enjoy life.
I think that when we learn to make a decision to actually stop, as people such as my grandmother has learned over time, that our lives will become so much fuller, because we have made the effort to stop and embrace the feeling of vulnerability to God, or our problems, that we will find strength in those moments to embrace the rest of life with a smile and heart full of joy from being able to stop and listen to God.
That is my prayer this summer as I head to the busy, exciting life of summer camp and I hope that you will find the time to stop with me and listen to what God has to say to us.
