Shhhh. Listen.

I stepped outside on my porch after the first big snow of the season.  Stillness.  Silence.  Undisturbed.  It's like God lays a big blanket over the earth and says, "Now, be still.  Shhh.  Listen."

I'm no fan of winter.  I don't like being cold.  I don't like being stuck indoors.  I don't like brown grass and naked trees.  But when it snows, it's as if God is saying, "Let me cover everything ugly and make it pretty for you.  Let me cover the roads so everyone can just slow down.  Let me make it quiet so you can hear."

In 1965 a report came in front of a Senate subcommittee that said in just a few short years that the country would be able to sit back and relax because the computer age would give lead to a 20 hour work week and people would be able to enjoy the luxury of more time off, less stress and early retirement.
 
Well, isn't that a novelty?  Our government giving heed to a ridiculous report
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The "computer age" has brought with it, more stress, more work, greed, mothers having to leave home to go to the workplace, divorce, warped sensibilities, violence, and a removal of anything Godly from school, work, and government.  Ahhh, the perks of advancement.

I saw on tv the other day, a family that had an idea.  They thought it would be a good thing to have a family meal together, and they were on tv to show everyone how to do that.  That's what we have become.  We have become so disjointed and busy that we don't know how to sit down at a table together.
 
But did you know that when you are still, you can hear a whisper?  Did you know that when the tv and radio are off you can hear a bird chirp?  Did you know that when you yank the headphones off you can hear a fire crackling?  Did you know that when you look up from the laptop, or iPad, or stop texting that you can see the snow falling, see a butterfly dancing through the air, see a deer scamper through the fields?  Did you know that when you stop all these things, you can actually think!

I was watching the snow fall and saw some cardinals in one of my trees.  They were chirping and twitching their little heads from side to side, as if to say, "well, aren't you going to give us food?"  So, I got my boots, gloves and coat on and went outside and filled all our bird feeders.  Not a big deal.  But I was able to help some of God's smallest creatures and I wouldn't have even thought of it if everything hadn't been still.  I wouldn't have heard that tiny little call for help.

It made me think of how many opportunities I have missed to help someone in need of a listening ear, a word of encouragement, or even just a smile, because I had too much noise going on...too busy in my own life...too much to do to slow down...

I can remember my mom saying it to me, then me saying it to my children when they were out of control or too noisy. "BE STILL!"  "You just need to quieten down and be still!"

Well, that's what God is telling us.  It's not a request.  It's not a suggestion.  It's a command.  Read the whole chapter of Psalms 46.  It's almost as if God has us by the shoulders, shaking us and telling us, "I am God, I will be exalted, now be still and listen!"
 
I guess that's what has to happen when we, as children, get too loud and stop paying attention.  We have to be still and hear what God has to say.

Psalms 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.