Ssshhhh... [sigh]

Ssshhhhh… listen.  What do you hear? I hear the bubbles in the back of the fish tank as the air hits surface in the filter.  What do you see?  Right now, at this very moment?  I see snow lightly floating down from the sky, doing its best to pile up upon one another on my front porch.  What do you smell?  Is there any fragrance in the air?  I just boiled a dozen eggs… mmmmm… there’s something about a fresh boiled egg first thing in the morning.  And what do you feel?  Deep within your being? Are you feeling sad or glad or silly or tired?  Lost or lonely or giddy or mad? 

From time to time we have to slow down long enough to not only ask these questions, but actually find their answers.  This past week signaled the beginning of a 40 day spiritual adventure we call Lent.  If you count the Sundays along the way, then it would be 47 days, but we don’t.  For Christ followers, every Sunday is a mini-Easter, a day to celebrate resurrection; both ours and that of Jesus.  But the days in-between are a little different.  We use them as a path of growth, steps to take toward holiness, toward becoming more like, and closer to, our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. 

So this week, I’ve asked my faith family to practice a bit of solitude.  If your life is as chaotic and jam packed as mine, then breaking away purposefully for a good 10 minutes a day will be like chocolate for the soul.  Take 10 each day this week, whether in the morning or in the evening, or even during lunch at work.  Just pull away to a quiet room or even to your car and just be.  Be alone, be quiet and be still.  Psalm 46.10 says “Be still and know that I am God.”  Be still… and know that he is God. 

If you have more time on your hands then sacrifice a bit more of your social life.  Commit to a half hour or an hour per day this week (or all the way through Lent, if you are willing!)  Turn off the radio, the television, the phone, and yes, even the internet.  No Facebook, no Pinterest, no nothing but you… and your Maker.  God may move.  God may not.  God may speak. God may not. God may touch you.  God may not.  It really doesn’t matter.  What does matter is that you stopped. 

In the fast paced, focused and frenzied world we live in, stopping is of utmost importance to our mind, body and soul.  It strengthens us for tougher days ahead and it gives us opportunity to simply exist, as a human being, with no immediate task or need at hand.  Just be.  Be who you are.  Be who you are meant to be.  Be yourself.  And be loved.  Allow God: Father, Son, Spirit, to renew you, fill you, and love you.  And then tomorrow, do it again. 

And if you are one who is quite practiced in solitude, then go one step further this Lenten season and take a day per week through Lent to simply be silent.  You can do what you typically do within your day but do it without speaking.  Simply live silent one day a week.  Listen more than you speak.  Hear the bubbles in the fish tank or the purr of your cat or the wind dancing across your yard.  See things you may typically miss.  The uniqueness of each snowflake, the color of each leaf on your indoor plants, the light and the way it dances across the ceiling at just the right time of the day.  Smell life around you: the fresh boiled eggs, the toast browning early morning, your husband’s aftershave as he walks by you fresh out of the shower.  And feel… something… anything.  Cry, laugh, contemplate, be thankful. 

The path to resurrection is full of both death and life, if we slow down long enough, and often enough, to notice.