When I lived in Athens, my life. was. loud. I thought I loved it. Barking dogs, the sounds of the bars and restaurants; the homeless, the buskers, the Thirsty Thursday beer trucks. Shouting, brawling, sirens. Cops, fights, the street-cleaners, the lawn-mowers. I heard every car's music at the red lights. Lots of Adele. Frat parties went late into the night. Horns blasted, car crashes crunched, dump-trucks rattled the dishes, and a very sweet owl liked to wake me up at 3 am most nights. Shows at 40 Watt and the Georgia Theatre left my ears ringing till I woke up.
The "drunk obnoxious Georgia fans" didn't exactly reserve their enthusiasm for game-day (I worked at Sanford Stadium. Oh, heavens...)
Hey, what's that coming down the track?
A huge machine that's red and black!
Ain't nothing finer int he land
than drunk, obnoxious Georgia fans!
go dawgs GO DAWGS
go dawgs GO DAWGS
GOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! ROOROOAROOROO!
A huge machine that's red and black!
Ain't nothing finer int he land
than drunk, obnoxious Georgia fans!
go dawgs GO DAWGS
go dawgs GO DAWGS
GOOOOOO DAWGS! SIC 'EM! ROOROOAROOROO!
When I got out of the car when we first got to the ranch, I couldn't figure out what was going on. Was I breathing? Did the air taste different? Was I standing up? I'm actually not being dramatic: it took me a good five minutes to figure out what was so different. Then it hit me. It was quiet. ... After that stunning realisation, I began to experience the layers of the silence. The wind hummed through the sagebrush, but snapped at my jacket. It rippled the water perfectly, but howled and whistled when I turned my head. I was the cause of the only noises I could hear! I was out of place. It was humbling! I was a part of something huge, something that existed long before I was even imagined, and I was being loud just by standing there. I felt so squirmy. If you know me...well, I make a lot of noise. I'm clumsy, I'm dramatic. I am not still.
Psalm 46.10
be still and know that I AM God.
As I listened to the nothingness, sitting on the ground, holding my knees so that I didn't disturb the perfection of the masterpiece around me, I began to hear. I heard the command to be still, and I heard God. I saw Him, I felt Him, and I knew Him with an entirely new song.
Suddenly, it became the loudest silence I had ever experienced. It was rich. It was fulfilling. It was full of secrets and directions, hopes and dreams. And I NEVER would have heard it over Passion Pit or motorcycles.
It reminded me one of my favourite passages in the old testament.
1 Kings 19:1-18 <-- read me!
The Lord passes by the mouth of the cave where an exhausted and frightened Elijah is hiding. He speaks to Elijah...not in a hurricane, not in an earthquake, and not in a fire, but in a quiet and gentle whisper. Read it. It's rad. *****
Guess what God tells Elijah, in that stillness? That he's not alone. That he will have victory. That he has help back in Israel. That he can TRUST GOD to protect him. To get up. To fight again.
I bet Satan didn't want Elijah to hear that!
I have grown to adore the stillness here. Of course, now that nannying has taken off, there's a lot of noise. But, when I get a chance to run, do yoga, or just drive around, I revel in the stillness. I have learned so much about myself and about my Lord. It's easy to listen when you're quiet. It kind of goes hand in hand with this Chocolate Trust study I'm working on. In this silence, I have heard God telling me to trust him. Something I'm not good at.
God asks Elijah, "What are you doing here?"
God asks Emma, "What are you doing here?"
If this is where I needed to come, to learn to shut my mouth and open the Word, to take my thoughts captive, and to embrace the Freedom of quietude....amen, amen. I can be such a slave to the war of Noise. My words, thoughts, my emotions, my memories and my questions. I am learning to take those shackles off. It is dopey.
Hmmmm....I posted and it didn't take, so I'll try again... Love your Blog! And can so relate to the need to be still, to learn from quietness. What follows is a poem I wrote awhile ago that reminds me of your blog.
ReplyDeleteBe Still by Lisa Sawhill
I’m called to a place to be still,
Where blackbirds litter the field then fly off in a mass at my approach,
Where the sky overpowers the land, refusing to be ignored as large lofty clouds parade across it,
Where the songs of birds surround me and when they stop there is a peaceful silence,
Where the stars display themselves abundantly against the blackness of a night sky and I look up amazed,
Where old trees lift up their branches and provide shade to enjoy,
Where demands melt away and nothing needs to be done, but to absorb the wonder around me
Rolling pastures before me beckon me to walk, to explore, to discover.
A place where the voice of creation is clearly heard, where it cannot be ignored or put aside by demands.
A place where perspective is given and renewed,
Where scripture is given life,
Where energy is given , where the mind is refreshed to be able to carry and meet the demands of the world.
Where my soul is still to know God.