I am linking up for the Five Minute Friday. The FMF is hosted by Kate Motaung on her blog Heading Home. Today’s prompt is “quiet.”
The hush of the theatre, the lights beating down on my costumed body, standing waiting for the lights to go up. Soon the lights beam down and we are whisked away to a new time and place. My theatre days are days that I actually miss. I loved standing on the stage waiting for a show to begin. Nothing quite like the quiet as the audience watched intently and listened to the story unfolding before their eyes. And then at the end of the show, the quiet was distrupted as the audience applauded our performance. In college, I spent all but one semester either on stage or behind the scenes helping with a performance. I got to play Anne Frank’s mother in the Diary of Anne Frank. I remember well the quiet and hush that fell over our audiences as we told the story.
Much like the hush of the theatre before a performance, one of my fave places to “be still and know that God is God” is on my beloved prairies of North Dakota especially at my favorite Bible camp. I stand and take in the quiet; only a gentle ND breeze whipping up against my face. I listen as the waves lap against the shore. I hear just the faint sounds of birds off in the distance. I look up in the night sky and take in the quiet and silence as I gaze at the amazingness of God’s creation. Now the quiet of night, I give thanks for a God who is always with us.
Quiet can be experienced in so many different ways. Those that read this blog regularly know that I am a huge baby lover. But I have never truly gotten to experience the miracle of birth except what I’ve seen on television. I used to watch the show A Baby Story pretty regularly. My eyes would gaze on the screen and I would watch as the woman would breathe through each contraction. After awhile, the sounds of her breathing was all that could be heard. Quiet in the room until the quiet was broken as the new infant was born into this world. Cries of a newborn infant would break the silence.
Quiet. It is something I am not always good at. But the writer in me finds such peace and comfort when I turn off everything around me and truly take the time to listen to God’s voice. This year, God is asking me to embrace the quiet…to take time to remember that God is indeed in the stillness. It is important for us to take the time to be quiet; to turn off the cell phone, turn off the television, and sit in the holy quietness of a God who always brings us peace.
When I take the time to be quiet, my soul is restored; a soul restored by the quietness of God’s creation–a reminder that God is in control. “Be still and know that I am God!”–Psalm 46:10