Seeking quiet places in a noisy world

Yesterday Russ got to experience that ‘too much, but not enough’ time that marks so much of my life.

We had run out of  errands and places to visit and still had time to fill before my class started at 5.

If we had driven home, we would have had just a short time and then turned around and headed back across town.

Sure gas is cheap these days, but we still don’t like wasting it.

So we went to Starbucks and took a seat in the corner.

He had his laptop and I had…

I tried to entertain myself on my phone, but the noise around me was so distracting.

The couple at the table next to us were chatting loudly with each other as they worked on homework.

They also branched out and engaged in conversations all around them.

Somehow my people magnet was turned off, because I was able to just be a bystander this go-round.

There was a constant flow of people in and out and every other person seemed to know someone sitting around us…or us…so there were greetings and polite questions catching up on family.

I wish I could tune out, but I have a knack of hearing every single conversation all at once.

I was…

This was not posed…I literally shut down and dozed…and my dear husband captured it and sent it to the kids, proving once again their mother can fall asleep anywhere…

Except in the night.

Because in the night, God woke me up.

And in the night, when all was quiet…I could hear the still small voice, I could pray and quietly go downstairs to the pages of Ephesians and read of His promises to us.

In the morning, in the quiet of our home with coffee mug in hand, I open His Word and the pages of my journal and He reveals Himself to me. 

I believe we need both.

We need the quiet places to refresh … so we can go into the noisy places of the world without shutting down.

We must seek balance…some of us are fueled and energized by the noise of the crowd…so it is discipline to find those quiet places in His Word.

Some of us would sit soaking in His Word and never pour out.

May God bless you today as you find the right amount of time alone with Him and sharing Him with a world that desperately needs to know Jesus.