QUIET DAYS WITH A NEW FOCUS

I usually don’t have many quiet days but today was one of those rare ones. It seemed hard to relax at first but as the day wore on, I found that the more I tried to relax the easier it eventually became. This helped my inner feelings and calmed my spirit. Psalm 46:10 says that we should “Be still and know that I am God.” All too often in the past I would rush through the day with my little list of things to do. After each thing was accomplished I would make a check mark and go on! I felt frazzled at the end of the day.

Oh, if I only had taken time to slow down and look at what was going on around me! All the little things that I took time to notice when I was a kid I had forgotten to observe in my rush to grow up as an adult. The way that the world unfolded before me always held my attention. The petals on a flower would fascinate me and the ladybug that inched its way along a leaf intrigued me. There were the beautiful colors of a rainbow after a spring shower and the white puffs of clouds in a topaz sky. The smells of everything from the scent of fresh air after a rain to the fragrance of a rose or gardenia. The smell of newly mown hay in the field away from the house. The fresh smell of bread baking in the oven and the smell of a fresh pine tree in the living room ready for decorating at Christmas seemed to linger in the air. There are tastes that are tantalizing, all sorts of smell, a cacophony of sights to see, and all sorts of textures to feel and consider.

And, of course, there was the unpleasant side of the coin. The smell of a skunk made me wrinkle up my nose. The unpleasant smells of a barn filled with cattle or horses or the harsh smell of a pen full of pigs were ones that I disliked. The dark color of a night when the stars were not visible seemed almost pitch black and I felt insecure. The scurrying of a cockroach or a spider crawling through the dirt, or even worse in a corner of the house, alarmed me. The smell of hot tar on the surface of the highway while construction was under way and the sight of a rotting carcass along the road were both unpleasant.

Yes, I noticed a lot of things while I was growing up. But the one thing I never paid attention to were the faces of people made in the image of God. I considered people as being young, old or even older. I looked up to others who were ahead of me in classes at school. Some faces were familiar and others were strangers who I had not seen before. But the faces of people made in the image of God are fascinating. No matter where we go, people are around us and we can learn much about their story just from looking at their face. The faces may be sad, happy, mad, or having tears streaming down the front of the face, but each person needs encouragement. Interaction with other people is part of living here. These people who really need to know God are there in my sight and I can be the one person who can give them a new perspective if I will take a little time to slow down. Everyone needs a friend and a little help sometime in their life. Without slowing down the pace of a busy day, we miss so many opportunities to help others. We miss the wonderful painting of God’s handiwork and brush strokes. And if we can’t see all that is in the world around us, how can we even begin to hear God’s small voice giving us direction?

So for today my schedule was a little slower and I had time to appreciate the day and all the little things that God brought into focus. I walked outside and looked, really looked at the landscaping. I raised my eyes to the sky to watch the birds in flight. And I paused for some time watching the hummingbird at the feeder sip the nectar. And, for the first time, I took time to look at the faces of people around me. People in my neighborhood, people at the grocery store, and people lined up at WalMart to pay for their purchases. Yes, they did have a story to tell and my goal was to say “Hi” and give them a little encouragement.

Thanks God for helping me to see your world through your eyes and for bringing out the little kid in me again.