I was reading an article on guidance for writers and artists. A very worthy portion of this advice consisted of urging those engaged in creative endeavors to practice at least two minutes of quiet whenever an urge was felt to rush to do this, do that. The need to simply be fully quiet and fully aware seemed to me to equal a type of surrender. Thus, a place of inner peace would result and creativity could flow therefrom.
I was put in mind of I Kings, Chapter 19, where the prophet Elijah was running for his life. Scripture tells us he had been running for forty days before finding a cave. It was there that he heard words from the Lord saying, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Just at this time, an extremely strong wind started up so strongly that it slit parts of the mountainsides, breaking rocks; but the Lord was not there. Then an earthquake followed; but the Lord was not there. Next came a raging fire; but the Lord was not there. Suddenly, there was nothing but silence. In this silence, Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle and went to stand outside the entrance to the cave. Then, Scripture tells us, “…a voice came to him.”
Not only are we in various times and in various places called upon to withstand terrible natural storms and disturbances, but we are called upon daily to wait out the storms and noises of people and duties and self reproach and temptations. Can we learn to wait through the storms for that “still, small voice” that is actually pure silence? This silence permits the entry of the voice of the Lord into our inner place of quietness. I now share with you a poem rewritten from a scribbling I once submitted to a teacher many years ago.
QUIET RESCUE
Quaking in rattled composure
disabled stagger on tilted floor
only grabbing backdoor knob exposure
Reckoning abandoned crying no more
She squinted through panes all cracking
Bemoaning trees all whipped and tore
Howling with winds enbracking
She fell to knees unknowing to seek
Some rescuing arm even if slacking
Neck all bent to bare her meek
She dare not breathe in sudden hush
Leaning there waited outside a squeak
Crawling down tiling path by rush
fallen o’er tiny nested bird
Chirping in joy of rainbow bush
Now cradling chirping word
Whispering of rescue
With promise for woman and bird
WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND THAT PLACE OF SILENCE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO FIND THAT CHIRP OF PROMISE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE THE HANDS AND FEET THAT BRING ANOTHER INTO A PLACE OF PEACE? WOULD YOU LIKE TO HEAR THE VOICE OF THE LORD?
BEGIN WITH QUIET. MEDITATE UPON ELIJAH AT THE CAVE AND THE WOMAN CRAWLING DOWN THE GARDEN PATH. THEN SEEK OUT HOLY SCRIPTURES THAT TELL YOU: “I AM THE WAY, THE TRUTH, AND THE LIFE” AS SPOKEN BY JESUS THE CHRIST RIGHT HERE ON EARTH. HE WILL LEAD YOU THROUGH THE STORMS INTO A QUIET GARDEN PATH OF EVERLASTING PEACE.
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Thank you so much for your gracious rejoinder, ptl2010! I really do appreciate yours, and everyone else’s support, here at Christian Blessings. Of course, you are completely correct and I agree with you wholeheartedly. Bless you, dear brothers and sisters in Christ!
Blessed quietness, holy quietness,
Blest assurance in my soul!
On the stormy sea, *Jesus speaks to me, [*He speaks peace to me,]
And the billows cease to roll.
Joys are flowing like a river,
Since the Comforter has come;
He abides with us forever,
Makes the trusting heart His home.
Refrain:
Blessed quietness, holy quietness,
Blest assurance in my soul!
On the stormy sea, *Jesus speaks to me, [*He speaks peace to me,]
And the billows cease to roll.
Everything is turned to gladness,
All around this glorious Guest;
Banished unbelief and sadness,
All is perfect peace and rest.
Like the rain that falls from heaven,
Like the sunlight from the sky,
So the Holy Spirit given,
Falls upon us from on high.
What a wonderful salvation,
Where we always see His face!
What a peaceful habitation!
What a quiet resting-place!
by Manie P. Ferguson
Thank you granbee for the reminder of blessed quietness.
ptl2010, Thank you so much for your gracious and loving support. I very much enjoyed your adding this beautiful hymn to my post in your comment. It is more direct, you might say, than my own poem. I truly feel led to write allegorically in order to speak straight to the soul, rather than the mind. Everytime I am tempted to doubt this method, I sit down with my Bible and flip to several of the parables utililized by Our Lord Jesus Christ as He walked and talked amongst us in the flesh all those centuries ago! I believe we each have a special way that God wants us to reach out to witness to others of our faith. Praise God you have the beautiful and effective ways that you reach out!
God’s precious jewels granbee, seen in different perspectives. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. God is the Source of all that is beautiful…including each one of us in Jesus. Praise the Lord. Send forth His light through our lives. That is all we can offer Him and He expects from us..
Silence is golden…sometimes we just want to fill every available part of the day with noise. Be it music, TV, conversation etc. Sometimes it is great to be still, and be quiet. You are so right here!
Great poem granbee!
writinggomer, thank you so very humbly for your kind remark about my poem. I really feel strongly that often we are so busy about citing scriptures and preaching that we do not just sit still with someone who is in pain and searching. I feel very, very strongly that we need to do a lot more of waiting for the Lord’s voice. If Our Lord Jesus Christ needed to go away and pray and “wait upon the Lord,” how much more do we need to do so!
What a terrific post. We must have been reading the same books. Julia Cameron, the Bard of writer motivation for instance, in “The Artists Way”, demands daily walks and “morning papers”.. Is the poem yours ? It’s great. milt
Thank you most humbly, dear Brother Milt! Yes, the poem is mine; see where I said it was a rewrite of a scribbled assignment once handed to a teacher of mine many years ago? And yes, this incident–and others similar–did happen to me; but the inspiration of this particular piece was inspired by my dear blessed mother’s actions in hurricane season in South Mississippi in the 50s. Julia Cameron is the author who inspired me to keep a dream image journal for an entire year. From this journal will appear in a few months the illustrations for the allegorial adult fairytale series I post from at http://granbee.wordpress.com. So very pleased to find you familiar with the work of Julia Cameron. However, the particular piece of advice I was reading came from a website which I found from my daily newletter from TheDailyBrainstorm and some from another online newsletter, ProlificLiving. I decided to expand upon the Elijah episode from I Kings upon reading my current Listening Hearts Winter Explorations newsletter, which came in my U.S.P.S mailbox, physically, two days ago. Praise be to God for all these abundant gifts and blessings!