Beauty in the Stillness

Our Sabbatical begins in a couple of days.  We can now start counting the hours: almost down to fifty. Well, fifty hours to hitting the road for a multi-leg-drive east to Virginia.  Then, the Sabbatical begins... after we unload the truck.  After we unpack. After we get settled?

This will be one of the dangers I must keep away from - that I must guard my heart from: wanting everything to be perfect before I begin to rest.

I'm like that.  Even while going to church-camp when I was young, I loved setting up my bunk.  A little decor.  Everything arranged.  All organized.  That was the first priority.

I'm afraid that if I am waiting for that in the farm house, it might be a while.  It will be fun to unpack and arrange and sort through what is already there.  But, I'm going to have to wait.  I don't want to be consumed with it.

A Sumner

I don't want to wait for perfection before I begin.  As I learn stillness, I am going to ask God to release me from needing my environment to be under control.  I want my rest, my peace, my joy, to come from Him - and from communion with Him.  I want my stillness to have nothing to do with the circumstances of my life - but everything to do with the God who holds my life.

And, yes, I realize that the gift of a Sabbatical is just that - a circumstance that will make it easier to purse God.  However, I know me.  And I know that I will still be me on Sabbatical and will want to get the world organized before I can sit down before God.

Our prayer for this season is that we re-orient our lives.  And even though the Sabbatical is just for a year, we want to learn from it a pattern - a way of life - that will last forever.