I arose before the rest of the family and prayed as I walked the blog. It was a beautiful morning with the moon breaking through the clouds. I talked to God about my concerns, hopes and fears. The coolness of the morning bid me sit still and linger in the moment.
When I pulled up a chair on the back patio, the noise of the metal chair on the concrete ground was shocking. I sat and relaxed. Or at least I tried. The noise in the background seemed to grow, e.g., a car passing on the highway, a motorcycle revving his engine, a neighbor's dog barking. What was once background noise was now overwhelmingly in the foreground.
How hard it is just to sit still and be calm. I thought of the command Moses gave the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea as the Egyptians bore down upon them. ". . . you need only be still."
Much easier said than done. To physically be still is one thing; the still thoughts and emotions is another. Yet when all is said and done, despite the cacophony of the background noise become foreground noise, the moment served to put me in a better place for the day than I would have been in had I not struggled with the lack of stillness.
Sometimes to truly move forward one must not move at all.
