…at least it is supposed to be, according to that old song. Somehow we still make it a busy time and we fill empty dates with "things to do" and "things yet to get done" and we watch the lists as they grown larger and larger and our response of guilt gets bigger and bigger. Somehow, summer should not be like that. We should actually take off some time to just not be so busy and some time to relax a bit.
As Louis Armstrong says in another song, "Lord, give me nothing to do but let me be like the lucky old sun and roll around heaven all day". That kind of thing will scare most of us for our criterion of life is to "have something to do at all times" and do not stand idle, as we know "an idle mind is the Devil's playground." We are almost afraid to just sit and do nothing for fear of what others will see and say about us. Never mind the idea of the Devil moving in to influence us, the guilt is already there by the good old-fashioned work ethic that we all seem to have grown up with. I am not validating laziness or I am not saying that we need to sit and let the world go by, but there should be some times in our lives that we can just take it easy for a while. Watch… we go on vacation to "relax" and then we schedule something for almost every waking moment we have on the vacation to keep ourselves busy and active. Should we not also schedule in some quiet time…some time to sit and do nothing…to reflect and let the mind drift into a state of relaxation instead of always being busy…a time to just sit and enjoy the process.
Had such a state a while back while on vacation... everyone else had gone up to the cabin and left me alone to sit by the lake and watch the beautiful fire we had built... Not a sound except the fire crackling and burning in front of me. I watched as the darkness came in to take over the spaces of light in the sky and I saw the stars as they came out. The mountains were reflected in the quiet and still water, making a picture that only the Creator would or even could make. Quiet… not a boat on the lake and not a sound anywhere around me. It was almost like being in a sound vacuum for a moment and I remember thinking, " Silence can be beautiful and peaceful. No Ipods in my ears... No conversation with anyone but God and myself. It was a rare moment and I appreciated it very much. I saw it as sort of a gift that was mine and I had nothing to do to watch it unfold before me. All I had to do was to listen silence and be aware of all that WAS NOT there... It was quiet.... oh, so quiet...
Most of our time and days are filled with things we need to do and get done. We have to listen to those around us and we have to talk in response to the many questions and challenges that come. Our children have learned to fear silence with the invasion of the Ipod. I watched people on the way back home as Esther took her turn driving. Almost every other one of the cars beside me were either on the Phone or texting someone someplace... I could hear the loud music in the cars above the noise of the road and there was no silence. I remembered my son in-law, Bobby, as we sat and appreciated the evening. He said that he was in the Rockies hiking many years ago and came upon this man sitting on a large rock, just sitting with his legs crossed and his hands at his side. Bob said he greeted him and the man showed him a piece of paper he had in his hand..." I am observing a time of silence. Thank you for letting me do that.” Bobby said, " I said nothing but turned and walked away, leaving the man in silence sitting on a large rock some place in the Rockies..
We need some silence in our lives... no TV...no Ipods...no radios...no boom boxes, just the wind---the beauty of a sunset and the quiet peace that God gives us to nourish our noisy and busy world. We let it slip by in the din of all that surrounds us...honking horns and blaring music...the silence is absorbed by the busy world that is always there...except for me one night along the lake side in a place in Virginia. I can still hear it…silent and quiet and it still rings in my soul, not in my ears... I plan to take some more time to get quiet maybe not by a lake in VA but someplace along the way now and then. After all, "He says, be still and know that I am God. I am exalted in the heavens and I am exalted in the earth." Maybe, just maybe, every now and then we need to get quiet, to let Him speak to us in the beauty of the earth and in the wonder of the heavens. It's an awesome experience and one that probably would help all of us deal with all the noise that surrounds us in the world if we can find some quiet in the chambers of God's creation. Try it... just sit…relax and breathe in and out. Let the silence cover you like a blanket and the absence of noise sooth your soul. It is a great experience that even the Son of God enjoyed now and then, even in the mist of the hustle and bustle of His life. Good enough for Him? Then it’s a good thing for you and me as well.
Have a great summer and enjoy the wonder of all that God places around each of us every day. Take the time to see it...to wonder at it...to smell and taste it...it's all for you as a Gift from HIM.