Can You Be Still?

Today I received an email that really touched me. How many of us truly listen? When someone speaks are you too busy thinking about what your going to say as soon as they stop? This message really hit home!

Being the Stillness
Bonnie Grove, She Reads Featured Author
Devotion:
I have sought comfort in the book of Job many times in my life. After I buried my infant son, I asked, "Why?" God reminded me that when Job asked the same question His answer was, "Who?"

While laying on a hospital bed knowing for certain I would lose the twins I had carried only a few precious months, God reminded me how in the midst of Job's suffering, God came. And in the whirlwind He answered. Not right away, not in Job's time, but in God's time - the perfect time when Job's heart could take in the words of healing.

In the years following those dark events, I trained in theology, counseling and psychology. I was on a quest to understand my brokenness, and that of others. I'm still on that quest, though my formal training is behind me.

One evening, I was in conversation with a man who was going through a divorce and was in obvious pain. He spoke of his daughter, and how his hopes for the future had been destroyed. When he finished speaking I sat in silence, knowing I had no great words to offer. Spent from telling his story, he too sat quietly.

Our silence stretched into minutes. Then, the man began to cry. I sat with him, keeping his tears company, and still said nothing. More minutes passed, and the man said, "That's the first time I've cried since this whole mess started." Then he said something surprising: "You've helped me so much. Thank you."

The silence had changed something for him. From my perspective, the silence was a result of my limitations as a counselor - I was empty handed. But it became clear to me there was something powerful at work. I remembered how Job's friends sat in silence with him for seven days and nights. With that in mind, I began to pay close attention to silence. I found that by being quiet, I could better understand my thoughts, fears, hopes, and desires. And in my long silences I was able to sense God's presence and hear His voice. When I sat with the man going through a divorce I listened to him without interruption. Then, by saying nothing, I helped him listen to what God had to say to him.

There are astounding lessons to be learned from the act of listening. I have learned that listening is an act of love. It is not passive; it is intentional, engaging with the heart and mind of another person. To listen you must turn off all outside distractions; say "no" to the world rushing by you. A sacred act of deliberate silence and meaningful pause, listening helps people clear a space in their life, heart, and mind in order to simply "be." Our listening is an important gift. I am learning to make it my first response. Through listening I want to provide the stillness God speaks into.

Dear Lord, bring me into a deeper silence before You, that I may hear Your voice, and in hearing, believe, and in believing, listen to the heart of others. When people hurt Lord, let me first offer them my listening, not my advice. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

"Then they sat down on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights with no one speaking a word to him, for they saw that his pain was very great."
Job 2:13 (NASB)

The Eagle

Every morning I make sure and do a half hour bible study, then turn on the t.v. to watch Joyce Meyer's at 8:00 a.m. I turn it up really loud so I can hear it while I'm in the bathroom getting ready for work. She told a GREAT true story about Eagle's that I wanted to share.

As an Eagle ages, his feathers start to wear down, his beak gets covered with barnacles and his claws are worn and not quite as sharp. As he fly's low to swoop upon his prey, his feathers make a loud whistling sound and scares away his food.

After a while, the old Eagle decides to take drastic measures to survive. He flies high into the sky...higher and higher, getting as close to the sun as possible. Once he finds a perfect spot, he begins the painful process of plucking out every feather, one by one, all two thousand of them. The Eagles skin is raw and swollen, he has gone through a painful process.

As he waits for forty days for his new, re-growth, he doesn't waste time, he begins to rub his worn, barnacled beak against a rock. Scraping day by day, refining it to a stronger form. He begins to also sharpen his claws on the rocks. For forty days he continues to prepare. He knows that this process is for his own good. He endures the time of waiting with careful preparation. Each day is spent growing, strengthening and becoming stronger. When his new feathers appear he is now ready to start fresh. With vibrant new sleek feathers, a stronger beak and claws...he is prepared.

Notice that it took forty days for the feathers to regrow. Jesus spent forty days and forty nights being tempted and tried by satan. God often uses our difficult times to pluck, reshape and refine us for his purpose. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, the only perfect person to ever walk the earth was also put through severe pain, struggles and even death.

The next time you ask the question, "Why me God? What have I done that I have to go through this?" Remember, without the trials we would not grow. God did not even spare Jesus, his only begotten son from trials and pain.

He is getting ready to use you for his ultimate purpose for your life!

He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like Eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:29-31

With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may count you worthy of His calling, and that by his power he may fulfill every good purpose of yours and every act prompted by your faith.
2 Thessalonians 1:11