Last week I wrote some from this coffee house I was hanging out in about an hour from my house. Even though it was close, it did take some effort to get there, and I about talked myself out of going. I’m too busy. I can just do it here. This will be a waste of time. You know… that stuff we all struggle with.
I talked about looking back and re-engaging with the steps, the direction, and the leading I have felt in the past. It continues to ring true that it makes no sense for God to give me more until I have taken some of the steps I am already aware of.
Last week was a great reminder again that it is so important to create some “space” for some extended times of quiet and solitude. It is just a lot easier to to see, listen, hear, and experience God when we step away from the regular routine and pace of life. It seems so simple, yet profound to me, but until we unplug and shut off the noise, how are we ever going to hear and get the perspective we need? This practice has always been important to me. I have done some form of this ever since I was little. Back then, I would seek the pasture behind our house, sit by the pond to fish, play, dream. And this practice of shutting off the noise remains critical for me to this day.
Last week, as I was re-reading some of my old journals, I came across something I wrote several years ago when I was perched on this mountain pass at one of my favorite places on the planet, Gothic pass above Crested Butte Colorado: “What an incredible hike and bike ride. I sit atop this pass in total peace; the first real peace I have had in several weeks. I’m surrounded by a 360-degree view of incredible awe and beauty. So important to find these places to separate and get a bigger and a wider perspective to life. Things just seem different up here. It’s so important to create this kind of space so I can more clearly hear, and experience God this way”
So on this gray, cold January day in Nebraska… here is to figuring that out… here is to finding a place to turn down the noise… a place to look back, and to finding a place to listen…
