...in stillness and in trust you are strengthened. I feel like today's entry was like a "How To" of being aware of God.
Step 1: Approach God with stillness and trust.
I have been learning this so much lately - when we approach God in the appropriate ways, the ways He calls us to, then our whole time with Him changes. I have read also to approach God with thankfulness. Stillness - giving all of the anxiety, worry, and busyness in our lives to God. Trust - taking on the posture of God being in control and us being okay with that. Thankfulness - choosing to recognize God's blessings all around us. When we approach our Father with such attitudes, we are fully in tune with Him and fully focused on Him.
Step 2: Silence.
Pretty self-explanatory. I think God means silence physically and mentally. Coming to the Maker of the universe with the anticipation of only being with and focusing on Him allows us to be nothing but open and ready. Even the dryer being on in the background for me right now seems like too much noise.
Step 3: Stop allowing your senses to be overstimulated.
Step 3: Stop allowing your senses to be overstimulated.
I had to look this up to get a better idea of what this meant, exactly. But it made sense once I did. When we allow soooo many things to be getting at us at once, we are uncontrollably distracted. Like we have written before, multi-tasking can put us at risk of making ourselves work too hard. So, when we are with God we are to make sure that our senses are not being used elsewhere so that our ears can be fully listening, or our eyes can be opened by God. I used to eat breakfast during my time with God, but I realized myself being more distracted than I needed to be.
All of this is so exciting!!! There is so much beauty in the world to be seen and to hear, and the Maker of all of it wants to reveal to us the unseen beauty of the universe as well. All we have to do is spend time with Him to see it better and better.
Thank You, Creator, for sharing Your beauty with us. We are unworthy and SO blessed to see and hear what You have made.
Enjoy this day!
love, jaym
Beautiful entry, Jaymee- and so many great things to think about! It is SO HARD for me to be silent and to stop my mind, but it is such a beautiful picture of submission to the Lord when we can! Thank you!
ReplyDeletei completely agree! john ortberg one time said that when we are in prayer and our minds keep wandering to something to that its likely we should be praying for whatever our minds are wandering to. that gives me comfort, sometimes, and reminds me of God's grace that He would want to hear about everything on my mind. Yet, once we've given it to Him, then silence is a beautiful thing!
ReplyDeleteJaymee- I completely loved this!!! Especially the part about the dryer even being too much noise! I can't tell you how even limiting my time in front of the television has allowed my ears and heart to hear a little better when God is calling. There is a whole 'unseen' world all around us that most days I fail to even acknowledge! AND John Ortberg is the man! I've always been challenged with even when random people pop into my head during the day- to stop and a say a little prayer for them. You never know who may be needing it in that moment! I LOVE your writing and LOVE you!!
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