My Life Is So Busy

Do you ever feel like you’re on a treadmill and just can’t get off?

There is always more work to be done. More weeds to pull. More conversations to be had. More ways to improve yourself.

It bleeds into every aspect of our lives. We can’t even let someone finish a sentence before we interrupt and insert our own thoughts. How can we ever learn to hear God’s voice, if we don’t stop to listen? We’re always interrupting, communicating. We struggle to be present.

Yet God is present with us.

Weekly Practice: Stop and Listen

One of the best examples of this, to me, are the disciples out on a boat in the middle of a storm, and they’re panicking. My sailing experience is limited, and if I was on a boat where some had made their livelihood out on the waters I would be a good listener. If they’re panicking, then I know we’re in some real trouble.

Yet Jesus is unphased.

He is sleeping in the back of the boat while they are rowing for their lives. The waves are crashing up over the sides, and Jesus mine as well be in a five star hotel.

The disciples’ panic leads them to wake him, lest he drown while still asleep.

Jesus, likely still wiping the sleep out of his eye, gets up, tells the wind and the waves to quiet down, and then turns to face his disciples. As nature itself bends to his will, he turns to his panicked disciples and asks them why they have such little faith.

They haven’t learned to trust, or to listen. Neither have I.

The first place God turns when we are in the desert and learning to rest, is to teach us to hear His voice. To strip away from all the negative identities that we’ve assumed, and to return to our created state. We are loved, we are safe, and He’s got this.

Then, we can begin the work of rest.

This week, as you converse with God and with others, do it with a posture of listening. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself in every conversation. Pray as you speak, and rest in the rhythms He establishes.

We are not in control, but He can calm the waves.