So I have to laugh at where the inspiration came for this post. I’m a little embarrassed that my dirty ceiling fans were noticeable enough for me to think on this analogy. So bear with me…..As I was tidying up the house before having a friend over for coffee the other day, I had the back door open and noticed the ceiling fan was on. Here in Arizona, we pretty much leave the fans on year round to keep our many warm days cooler. The newly pleasant chill of November brings me such joy that I can finally open the windows and doors! But as I thought of my girlfriend coming over, I wondered if it would be a bit much for her to have the cold outside air breezing in along with the overhead fan blowing down. I went to hit the switch for the fan and stopped…..she is going to notice the dust bunnies piled up on the fan blades!! I can’t stop it unless I plan on cleaning it!
Isn’t this a little like us sometimes? We are so busy with life spinning all around us that we can become immune to the act of being still. For some of us, we even keep busy with great intent-to numb the pain- or better yet to keep others from seeing our dirt. We bury ourselves in our work, our kids, hobbies, social media, whatever it takes to keep our plates spinning and our minds turned on. If we don’t stop, maybe no one will notice. But how long can we really keep going? And are we actually hiding anything, especially from our Savior.
Stillness is the place where our Heavenly Father makes our dirt clean. How can He wash us white as snow, if we don’t stop long enough to and ask Him to? Without allowing our minds to find stillness for a moment with Jesus, He cannot speak to us and renew our souls. We are allowing our sin to dig deeper and our pain to fester when we try to cover them up with motion. One of my favorite Bible verses is Psalm 46:10- Be still and know that I am God. It is in the quiet and intentional stillness that our Lord will fill our soul with His peace and love. We must position ourselves to receive Him though. I am learning that I desire stillness with God the busier life gets, because it is only with Him that the craziness finds His perfect peace. The Lord is the only One who will truly take us as we are- dirt, dust bunnies, and all- without needing to be cleaned up first. The question is, will we stop long enough to allow Him to?
With love~~ April
Isaiah 26:3-4
You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind remains focused on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.
Perfectly said.