"Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed." Mark 1:35
In the early morning hours, darkness closed in around me, but the noise wouldn't stop. I turned from one side to the other, covering my head with my pillow. Finally sitting up in bed I saw it. The headlights from the eighteen wheeler that pulled right up to our bedroom window, a tow motor droning continually and voices mumbling in the black sky outside. Before I opened my eyes from a deep sleep my thoughts reminded me of what I was hearing. It happened every six weeks when the chickens were ready to take their leave.
If you recall in some of my other posts, Dana and I lived in a mobile home on my parent's farm when we first married. Our home sat directly in front of four out of the five chicken houses they owned. It was a peaceful existence up until the sixth week of every calendar page. I dreaded those nights, they were the longest recorded ones of my life.
On this particular night (morning) as I sat looking out the curtained window, wishing they would hurry and leave us, I couldn't help but noticed how still and quiet Dana was beside me. As if the noise and chaos of the world outside was not affecting him. He just peacefully slept. I decided to give in and just try and go back to sleep. I found myself tossing and turning, fighting with the sheets and punching my pillow and murmuring words under my breath, all the while...Dana continued to sleep. Nothing seemed to be bothering him which only made me that much more frustrated with the whole situation.
As I lay there in the darkness curiosity had its way with me so I reach over to touch his face (to see if he was still with me). Do you know what I found? Cotton...in his ear! I couldn't believe it.
Why didn't he share this secret with me?
How could he be so contently sleeping right there beside me knowing that I would be awoken by this crew of catchers outside our door?
I thought to myself...could he really be sleeping, so I did what any curious wife would do. I pulled the piece of cotton from his ear and asked him (yes I did. I'm not ashamed to admit this after all these years).
Can we really experience quiet, peaceful rest in the midst of the noise and chaos this world offers? I believe we can and we must. Why do we need peace and rest? We live in an uncertain world where we cannot predict what might happen to us tomorrow. The earth underneath us might quake at any moment in the form of a cancer diagnosis, a job loss, a car accident, not to mention the stress and guilt of striving over the many decisions we have to make daily. These are scary things, and as a Christian, should cause us to want to find rest in our Savior.
We deal with anxieties and distractions that gives us no quiet time. Be honest, when do you really unplug from the noise? The endless text messaging, social media posts, news stories? When you do have a moment of down time to only have you fill it with music, Netflix movies, or a podcast? We need a moment of rest (maybe a few different moments all throughout the day).
"Be still, and know that I am God." (Ps. 46:10)
This passage encourages us to stop struggling and find peace in our faith. This peace comes only as we acknowledge God's Lordship in our lives and surrender to His will. When we compete with the chaos of this world, we are lost in a sea of confusion and disorder, causing our minds to only focus on the noise.
Let's find a place of gentle rest each morning with our Lord. Put some cotton in our ears to help drown out the noise and soak in His Word so that He can breathe fresh life into us for the day ahead (whatever it may bring).
I love you & He loves you more!
Lord, May we seek You first in the quiet moments. Show us how to pull away from the chaos and sit with You awhile, soaking in the truths of Your Word and learning just how much You love us. In Jesus' name. Amen.