My last blog post (before dear Lilibet passed away) was the 1st day of the Summer holidays. I had been encouraged by a friend to Be Still...to rest in God, to enjoy His presence, to enjoy being His daughter.
And what better way to do that, than in an English heatwave?! We had some family birthdays over the summer, we had Newday (a Christian Youth festival). We had a day out in London. Me and the girls had a couple of Girl Days! We had a crab collecting day at the beach. We made a bug hotel. We played with cousins. We walked the dog. We holidayed in Cornwall. We did a lot of driving to get there and back. We had many beach days. We did body boarding, surfing, piercing, table tennis, and walking.
Sounds a bit busy, for a blog which started with Being Still. It's a mindset though sometimes, isn't it?! A state of being. A conscious decision to Be Still, to be in God's presence regardless of what is going on around me. I personally, look around 'me' far too much, at my circumstances which can influence my mood, my feelings, my reactions. For us, we have six little (and not so little), people around us for the Summer six weeks, and we both still had work to do. But me and the husband tried to take some much needed time to try and just be, to rest and to Be Still.
One of the ways we did this, (as well as coffee, & red wine), was to read together in the mornings. (Without the red wine). Now one of us is an avid reader, with paper backs and Kindle reads, and an ordered bookshelf of colour co-ordinated classics, and one of us will maybe get through a trashy romance once a holiday. So it's fair to say that one of us needed a little getting used to the early morning reads, so a mug of hot bribery was promised...
Needless to say, a habit has started to form. I have woken up to my morning cuppa, while the husband has read to me. We firstly went through "Jesus, Lover of my Soul", which looks at the Song of Songs in the Bible, and how our human desire for relational connection and intimacy is a mere weak reflection on God's desire to connect with us and be in relationship with us.
Unfortunately I'm just far too immature to cope with some aspects of the book, which talk in a more intimate way, between a husband and a wife. The husband carried on reading maturely while I giggled in the corner. There was one moment where the book beautifully talks about God putting us on His heart like a seal. And as I made the sound of, and performed the clapping noise of a seal, I realised the husband had actually found this bit of writing quite emotionally inspiring. We all have to start somewhere though...
We have now moved onto "A Praying Life" by Paul Miller which is such an easy, inspiring read even for a non-reader. And fanfare please, I have even read the odd chapter or two outloud to the husband. (I feel like I should have a little reading record like the girls have at school). It has meant getting up 15minutes early, but we start the day with godly truths and follow it with a few minutes of prayer. (A habit which has always been a bit sporadic for us).
Sometimes resting and being, takes that extra bit of time, effort and planning, which seems to go against the idea of the 'not doing'. But it has been a helpful addition for us. A habit is indeed forming. I have also booked in moments, put the time aside, to write in my new 'Be Still' notebook. I've written a few letters to God. And when it's been hard, not knowing what to write, I have written a grateful list because I know this helps to 'raise my gaze'.
We are encouraged in the Bible, to seek God's face. This involves looking up, not around me or down, but up to Him. To seek God's face, is to seek His presence. When we look at someone's face, when we look them in the eye, we get to know them. We get to read their character. Looking up at God, who He is and what He has done is always good for the soul, and for the marriage, and for the six little, (and not so little), people around us. The wonderful thing about God's face, is that it is always smiling, because of His love and grace towards us. That is surely worth raising my gaze, just to see and feel and know His Smile on me.
"Look to the Lord and His strength; seek his face always". 1 Chronicles 16v11