Char's Blog
Stillness
Yesterday I received an email apology from someone I have not had contact with for many years. The humility of his words, his honesty and request for forgivenss, left me humbled. In my heart I had to admit that there was a time when I took opportunities to put him down - I too needed forgiveness.
Stillness is the moment of quiet that we allow for respect and reflection. Stillness is that holy pause when the greatest of truths leave their indelible marks on our hearts and minds and souls. Expressions of humility, brokenness, contrition, they are all followed by stillness. We try, at times in vain, to absorb the power of the truth that we have heard and seen.
God is in the Stillness. Repeatedly He reaffirms this truth. It comes as no surprise to me, then, that my meditation today from Exodus 14 was titled "Stillness". Like the Israelites I am often surprised by the circumstances God allows and chooses to use. I often think: "This was not what we wanted. This was not a better life for us in the Promised Land." It seems impossible for there to be any solution. God replies "Be still." His deliverance follows my stillness.
Sometimes, as a person who has known periods of great depression, it feels as though I am the one broken, humiliated, contrite; the stillness comes to those around me. But this time was different. This time my humility came in the stillness: God is continuing His redemptive work in the life of a now-distant friend and I need to be reconciled in Christ to all that God has accomplished.
What follows? Rivers of healing and lovingkindness flooded my heart. Washed away are the wrongs of hurtful things said and done. The love of Christ makes all things new. God is in the business of reconciling all things to his holiness - even those things we long ago abandonned.
An email: in the midst of my journey God is in the stillness.
I guess this is something I didn't know before, and I don't know if you've ever been told, but you write really well. I mean that. And I'm not the only who thinks so, someone else who read your blog mentioned it as well.
That's all I had to say...keep on keeping on...