SEEING THE EXTRAORDINARY

Tag: Breathe

  • Traveling (Devotion 2.1)

    If I give you directions, it is probably best you consult a GPS.  My directions consist of landmarks which may or may not be located where I tell you they are.  In my mind, it is clear.  But when I speak about it, somehow it gets jumbled.  If I’m honest, though, I really don’t know where I am going most of the time.  Directions just aren’t my thing.  I am probably as directionally challenged as they come.  Some days I don’t let this slow me down.  I am blissfully lost and just keep moving.  I’ll find my way eventually.  But at other times, it has caused me to not try challenges for fear I will be forever lost.  I find this in life as well.

    We can get caught up in the movement of life that we forget where we are going, how to get there, or why we are even on this path.  We can wake up one day and not know how we got there or what in the world we are even doing.  It can even be so distressing that we feel hopeless and maybe even…lifeless.  But waking up is the key, even when it is painful to realize this isn’t where we intended to be.

    I have some wonderful guides in this life.  My wife, children, family and friends have been lights to help me on my way.  But they can’t ultimately do anything but show me where I am.  I have to find the way.  I rely on my faith but can get lost there too (my own fault, of course).  Waking up, realizing where I am, and finding where I should be heading is so important.  For me, this has been most realized when I am in silence.  When nothing else can impede or distract my thoughts, I can listen.  I listen to nature, singing the songs of goodness.  I listen to life lessons I have heard from those who have gone before me.  I listen to God as he seeks to show me the way.  

    And…I get up and travel forward.  I travel one step at a time.  But this time, I travel with intent, not aimlessly.  

    Move forward, there is still lots to see.

    Psalm 94:18-19 (New Revised Standard Version, Anglicised)
    When I thought, ‘My foot is slipping’, your steadfast love, O Lord, held me up. When the cares of my heart are many, your consolations cheer my soul.

  • A Time For…

    What a day!  I’m sure we have all had one of those days that we could not wait for it to end…where nothing seems to go right and we feel like if the day doesn’t end quickly, it may actually all fall apart.  Today was one of those days for me.  But, after lunch, things began to take a turn…for the better.  My afternoon appointments didn’t work out.  I still had a whole list of other things to do…but it was 65 degrees on a winter day.  I had been inside too long and was anxious to get some fresh air.  Emma and I decided it was time for a hike at the Cliffs of the Neuse…

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    The trail was calling
    The trail was calling

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    As I walked through the trail, I began to feel better.  I enjoyed hearing the songs of the birds.  It began to notice the beauty of the trees.  My eyes were opening to the creation that was all around me.  I began to breathe…

    I noticed how different all of the trees were.  There were some tall and majestic…

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    Others were small but alive with potential…

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    Still others appeared to have been at the end of their usefulness…yet contained a beauty that was indescribable…

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    They were everywhere…as I walked to the lake, they surrounded the water in beauty…protecting, shielding, and accepting nourishment from the water…

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    All of these trees…in all their specialness and uniqueness…in all their splendor…are beautiful.  Whether they were just beginning or their time was completed, they are a part of God’s creation.  Not many people know much about the book of Ecclesiastes, but if people know anything, they know this found in chapter 3:

    For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

    2 a time to be born, and a time to die;
    a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
    3 a time to kill, and a time to heal;
    a time to break down, and a time to build up;
    4 a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
    a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
    5 a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
    a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
    6 a time to seek, and a time to lose;
    a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
    7 a time to tear, and a time to sew;
    a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
    8 a time to love, and a time to hate;
    a time for war, and a time for peace.

     Today, this writing began to speak to me as it never has before.  I began to see this come to life.  As I looked around at the planted…and the stones…in silence, I also considered that which had died…which had been plucked up…which had been gathered. In all of God’s wisdom, he has blessed us with signs and wonders all around us…if only we will pay attention.

    I will leave you with one of my favorite poems by Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

    Earth is crammed with heaven

    And every common bush aflame with God

    But only those who see will take off their shoes

    The rest sit around and pluck blackberries

    Maybe, just maybe today was one of those holy moments..

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  • Making Time to Breathe

    As this new year begins, there are quite a few changes.  I do not have to return to school this semester, which is probably the biggest change.  Because I spent so much time studying and reading and going to class, you would think I would have so much extra time.  You might even think I would have so much free time I wouldn’t know what to do.  I have already had many people ask what I was going to do with all my extra time.  The interesting thing is that there isn’t much free time…and I’m not sure how I survived with all I had going on.

    Last semester, I often thought of what I would do when I didn’t have to go to school.  The only answer in my mind was…breathe.  I can’t remember taking too many deep breaths in the last five years.  My schedule was so overloaded that I really don’t even remember relaxing at all.  Don’t get me wrong…it is not in my nature to relax too long.  I have to be on the move, doing something.  I loved what I did and wouldn’t change anything.  My experience in Seminary has been priceless.  But I had the desire to…just breathe.

    I looked at my schedule yesterday and it is packed.  I am doing things I wasn’t able to do when I was in school, but the calendar is still full.  I thought to myself…how did this happen so soon?  If I just had more time…or if I could just make the time to do what needs to be done…and…

    And then I heard Jonny Diaz’s new song, “Breathe.”  God has an interesting way of reaching us, doesn’t he?   I have to learn to slow down and just breathe…rest at the feet of Jesus.  His presence is in me…around me…if I will just take the time to…breathe.  He can bring rest to my overstressed life if I will just let him.  I don’t need more time.  I don’t need to “make time” even if I could.  Sometimes, I just need to stop, breathe, and listen to God speak…feel his presence…see his creation.  May I learn to…breathe.