It’s summer and one of my daughter’s favorite things to do is to get on my back in the pool and have me walk around the edge of it. What happens? We create a current. With each time around it gets easier and we go faster. That’s not the fun part though. The fun part is when I suddenly turn around, she lets go and is carried away by the current.
We then reverse direction and begin to walk into the current. With enough time and effort, we can change the current.
Our habits create a current in our life.
We live in a culture of noise, self-reliance, and frenzy. It’s easy to walk around in it and to go along with it. If we’re not careful, though, we will find ourselves being carried away by its current. But, you can turn around and change the current in your life.
It will happen slowly and little by little as you begin to stand against the current and wade into it. The way forward is by engaging in different habits, contrarian habits. Particularly, silence, solitude, and stillness.
SILENCE
In silence we ask the question whose voice matters most. Is it the voice of culture? Is it the voice of self? Or is it the voice of God?
Hearing is involuntary. Listening is voluntary. It is a deliberate act and choice, requiring silence before another. God is not interested in speaking above the noise to be heard, as much as in being listened to by those who draw near to him.
When was the last time you quieted your soul, set apart your heart, and didn’t speak but listened to God?
SOLITUDE
In solitude we ask the question whose eyes matter most—who am I really trying to please? Is it others? It is myself? Or am I looking to and depending on what God thinks and says about me?
When we’re alone we can come to grips with what we truly believe we can’t live without. We can then move away from the shore of our dependency on ourselves or others and out into the ocean of our dependency on God alone, into a deeper understanding of his great love for us.
When was the last time you removed yourself from others, made yourself vulnerable, and asked God to search you and know your deepest thoughts?
STILLNESS
In stillness we ask the question whose activity matters most? Is it what others can do for me? Is it what I can do for myself? Or is it what God has done and is doing for me?
We are always moving, never wanting to waste a minute. We are wired for meeting deadlines and increasing productivity. But in stillness we stop. We let go and take our hands off of what we’re doing and hope to accomplish. We cease from our work to rest in God’s work of creation and salvation. We remember that our starting point is rest, not work; grace, not success.
When was the last time you ceased from work, sacrificed productivity for rest, and delighted in God’s work for you, not yours for him?