The Color of Stillness

"I'm in a hurry to get things done, I rush and rush until life's no fun..."

(Song: I'm In A Hurry And Don't Know Why by Alabama)

Does this sound familiar: 

Breakfast meeting at 7am, back to the office (or wherever "work" is), hectic day at work, stop at the grocery store on the way home to pick up much needed groceries, go home and make supper, clean up, walk the dog (or feed livestock), head out of town for an evening meeting, arrive home at 10:30pm, check email and respond to several notes that have been impatiently waiting for a reply, have a snack, and fall into bed so that you can get up tomorrow to do it all again; and it's only Monday! Meanwhile your spouse had a similar schedule that included running the kids to hockey, dance, soccer, and a dentist appointment. 

Sometimes it feels as though the days are flying by at fast-forward, everything moving at a frenetic pace. We wake up Monday morning, blink once or twice and find ourselves at Saturday evening wondering where the week went. And it's not that the individual pieces that make up a week are unpleasant or undesirable - not at all. In my case I have an amazing job, a wild variety of personal interests, and a wonderful community of family and friends. It's just that... well, when I put it all together, work, family, personal health, community interests, and that crazy Jack Russell Terrier... there are times I would just like to hit the pause button and sit for a spell.

"Be still and know that I am God"

(Psalm 46.10)

Be still... yeah. One of the challenges we face is being present to whatever it is that the current moment holds. The temptation is to be scanning the horizon, prepping for the next commitment on the docket, and in so doing, miss the awesome beauty and opportunity that is unfolding before us. One of the ways that I slow down and breathe is to go for a walk in the valley south of Camrose. Max and I have spent countless hours on those trails, Max hunting rabbits, and I hunting solitude. You know what happens though at times? I start thinking about the next thing on the slate - "got to get home, change clothes, and run off to a council meeting." When this happens I have forfeited the present for the illusion of the future; a very poor exchange if you ask me.

"Be still.

Stillness reveals the secrets of eternity."

(Lao Tzu)

I think that what I really want is not to have less experiences in my life (I have too much energy not to give life all I've got and receive all that life offers), but rather to fully experience what I am engaging at any given moment. Perhaps what we all desire is to be aware of and open to all that Love is doing in, with, and through us right now. Rather than worrying about, or rushing into the next thing coming up, we could savour and deeply enjoy the delicious flavors of now. 

To do so requires that we release being anxious about the next thing, worrying about the bumps on the road ahead, even letting go of anticipation of tomorrow. It requires joining the Psalmist in stilling our thoughts and heart and soul to just be. For me it means just being with my family, with the dog, with supper, with community; just being in the driver's seat behind a slow-moving vehicle... just being. 

Our society's not likely to slow it's pace any time in the near future, but we can choose to steal moments in our day to  breathe deeply, to listen, to see, to inhale life's aroma, and to feel eternity wrap around us. With Spirit's empowerment now can be all that there is, richly and beautifully. So right now I am writing this, thinking of you, and praying that your day is filled with moments that completely flood your awareness. 

I leave the last word to E'yen A. Gardner:

"Being still does not mean don't move; 

it means move in peace."

I watched

a little girl

chasing

a

butterfly

Time

stood

still

eternity

erupted

pray

breathe

be