Shhhh....

I haven't been writing lately, have you noticed? I have been saying to myself it's just writers block... there's just nothing coming to me. Tonight I was sitting in my car getting ready to drive home and I just paused for five minutes and that is when it came to me.... I don't have writers block I have listeners block! I have not been stopping long enough to hear anything most of all what God is saying to me. So now a short break to give a brief explanation of "God talking to me". This is the ongoing conversation I have with God - me talking sometimes in my head and sometimes out loud, sometimes really out loud - Then there is me stopping - stopping doing, stopping the busy making, stopping the chaos, stopping the running. I just sit still. As I let my thoughts slow then I have space to hear the thoughts, ideas and directions that God places in my mind. How do I know they are from God? Sometimes it is obvious because the thought or idea or direction is just too sane or too out there to be my own. Sometimes I can feel my mind and body relax with a sense of peace and calm that I don't find until I listen for God. Sometimes I just know that I am not alone - that God sits with me. It is the times that I listen that my faith feels nurtured and I feel faith growing and stretching. So what was the point of this moment? Recognition of the busy I put myself into - that in our society our culture we say it is not just OK but expected that each of us with be busy, running, on the go, really involved in all we can be. This idea is not just adults it's kids too! How many activities have you done this week? How much time have you spent on homework, a project for school or practice for one of the many things you are involved in? I don't think that this is necessarily a bad thing but a life with go needs the balance of a life with stop. I was part of the planning group for worship at presbytery (our wider United Church gathering) and the theme was 'Be Still' - a theme of rest, rejuvenation and relaxation. The worship for the weekend embraced Psalm 46:10a "Be still and know that I am God." In my hunt for multimedia insight on this passage I found this great Video done by Jim Clark who is a Student Minister at Fox Valley Christian Church in Batavia, Illinois. Check it out then ask yourself when are you still enough to listen?

Check out Jim's Blog http://tyndalespot.blogspot.com/