Saturday 23 March 2013

In the Slow Moments


I learnt something yesterday.  It is good to change pace and just sit with a baby for a few hours.  No homework woes.  No shattered self-expectation.  No rushing about.  No haggling over computer time.  Just sitting with a board book and lifting the flaps over and over.  And the greatest concern one could have is when Mummy might come home.  In this case Mummy always comes home.

We still had homework and computer haggling going on around the place while the Little Man was visiting with us.  But for me, I just sat with a cute little baby on my knee.  He wasn't terribly happy, between teething and yet another day of Mummy needing to be away for a little bit.  But we had moments of pure joy and laughter in between the few grumps. 

In our rushing through life we forget to be still and just 'be'.  Perhaps that's why God was explicit when He said "Be still and know that I am God".  That Psalm (46) talks about all kinds of storms and catastrophes before the admonition to be still.  I have in my mind a picture of turbulence, busyness and rushing about, like the whole of life is on a very noisy fast-forward setting.  And God says "be still" and then "know that I am God".  Let life swirl on in the dizzying way that it does.  But let's choose not to get caught up in it.  Let's choose 'being'.  Let's choose enjoying the moment and being slow enough to hear God.

Today I'm going to take my time through some organising for the week ahead because people still need to eat around here, and I need to be prepared to teach on Monday.  And then I'm going to enjoy the space I have in my day and read.  Or bake.  Or both.

What do you do to help you slow down and just 'be'?

3 comments:

Left-Handed Housewife said...

It's hard to "just be," though I do my best on Sundays (mostly failing). That is one of the wonderful thing about babies, though--they don't respect clocks or schedules or the things you must do that simply must be done. It's good to have a baby around from time to time, just to remind you!

xofrances

Anonymous said...

as a matter of interest did we ever find out what happened to the women from the tin house, lisa, who disapeared from view

Tracy said...

Hi Anonymous

Sadly, no. I've heard not a whisper, nor a rumour as to what happened to Lisa.