Christmas is how many days away? O silent night, let your glories fall!

Mid November found me moving back to the “unforced rhythms of grace” that cover my daily life.  After a crazy busy, emotionally, spiritually charged two weeks, finding the norm of the “rhythm” I had started to linger a year ago. Looking for answers, questioning the way of the path I was traveling, not knowing what lay ahead after so much exposure and vulnerability over things of the past. How interwoven it all appeared to be! The past, the now, the future.

On the road daily, driving from city to country, I found Autumn, more alive and vivid than I have ever seen or been a part of.  Yet, the earth seemed to be turning within itself. Laying down its outer layers, colors fading. Dormancy and stillness willing it into a season yet to come.  So it was with me!  A turning within was happening.  An awareness of the demands to know the whys, to have answers to the questions. The dormancy started creeping in, bringing with it the unwanted settling. Till I arrest it! “Search me, God, know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts” (Psalm 139:23) My mind’s eye catches a glimpse of leaves falling to the ground. 

Arrested, the demands begin a downward spiral. An unseen hand guides them to a space on the ground. As they settle, as movement comes to an end, a response within me rises up. Don’t race ahead, stay with the unforced rhythm, linger long enough to learn something new, lean into the waiting, embrace the stillness. Learn to follow without having plans. Trust and go, not knowing the chosen course or direction. Let go, let the unforced rhythm steer you to what was planned long before leaves ever fell to the ground.

A few days later, a four page newsletter came in the mail. Four pages about life at the medical mission, Loma De Luz in Honduras (http://www.crstone.org/). In it, Dr. Jeff McKenney shared about an encounter he had in a forest, while attending a conference in North Carolina.

“At first, there were all the sounds I could hear in my head – that and my footsteps disturbing this year’s crop of gold and russet leaves. But as I walked, I gradually began to hear more of the forest around me, hear the sounds of God’s breath. And, as I looked up, I became less concerned with calculating how many more minutes I had left before my next obligation and more in awe, struck by the sense of joy and reverence for being allowed to pass through one of God’s great cathedrals. How quickly transformation took place. How quickly my entire perspective had changed from inward (the noise my feet could make and the noise inside my own head) to outward: listening and observing the wonder of God’s works, feeling His presence, and the privilege of a travel stained pilgrim being allowed into this holy place. So take a walk in the woods and listen for God’s voice and keep walking until you hear it.”

The simplicity of being guided in grace – Look outward, hear the sound of His breath, listen for His voice, and keep on walking travel stained pilgrim.