It’s so hard to get still, yet God has so much love and counsel to give us if we would just… receive him. As a friend. As a confidant. As an advisor. As a Father. It delights him to lavish his extravagant love upon us.
Photo by Timothy Dykes
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can anyone of you by worrying add a single hour to his life?
Matthew 6:26-27
Bird songs
When the snow begins to melt and the birds return, we are witnesses to the early signs of spring. The bright host of cardinals who stayed for the winter are playing again, along with finches, chickadees, nuthatches, and the tufted titmouse. It’s just a matter of time before the grass begins to grow new shoots and the robins come.
Outside, in the bird songs, life is simple again. The birds never have to worry about being anything other than what they are created to be: A bird’s purpose is to be a bird.
We can miss the bird songs if we don’t get quiet enough to hear them, and as adults, it can be harder to listen. It’s like dialing into a dim-present frequency; static until we’re tuned, but when we find it, the volume goes up.
I was on a walk last week when I noticed the birds singing, and I think it was the first time, maybe ever, that I finally (really) listened. In the symphony, I heard… joy.
Can we know the same joy, too? How do we calm our minds to be right in the present moment with God? How do we know know if we’re hearing God’s voice?
While questions press, my mind is uncharted. There’s a flat-world-turned-round inside, and I haven’t found the circumference yet. The frequency is dim.
So many pieces of mind share given away to nonsense. Or deadlines. Or commitments. Or anxiety about commitments. Or anxiety about finding enough energy to show up. Noise! The list goes on until we feel pent up and breathless and trapped. Phew! Exhale it with me, this life can feel like chaos!
Just be
I think we’ve become disconnected from the purpose of being ourselves, just as we are created to be, because the world will tell us we need to earn purpose and because modern life pulls us out of balance and off frequency.
But the reality is that the natural frequency of the planet is peace and harmony and joy. The birds are. The sky is. The grass grows. All in one beautiful, interconnected cycle. We can hear the dim-present frequency on full volume if we train ourselves to listen.
We start by quieting our spirits, and we step into the peace of Christ. We dial into the frequency of the earth, breathe in, breathe out, and listen intentionally, deliberately, expecting God to meet us in this space. After all, his spirit permeates all of creation and gives us breath and life and the courage to just be.
Imagine a place or time where you felt perfect peace. Was it on a hike? Were you at the beach? Were you with loved ones? Were you gardening? What were you doing the last time you felt peace?
Envision that place and go there in your spirit. What does it feel like? Are you peaceful? Breathe.
Now meditate on this truth: You are unconditionally loved. You are fearfully and wonderfully made. You are God’s treasure, just as he made you (Psa. 139:1-18). In this life, you are fulfilling your purpose just by being here, and when you delight yourself in the Lord, he will give you the desires of your heart (Psa. 37:4). It’s that simple, really.
Feel the fullness of God’s love for you, and in the stillness, listen for his voice. He might speak through creation around you. You may have a knowing in your spirit that did not come from you. Answers to your questions may come to mind. You might open the Bible to exactly the scripture you needed for discernment about an upcoming decision.
And with lots of intention and training, you might hear God’s voice as a gentle whisper and a soft wind. His voice is tender and encouraging. Never condemning. He speaks in prose and scriptures, and we know his voice is not our voice because it’s far too perfect and far too eloquent to be human.
It’s so hard to get still, yet God has so much love and counsel to give us if we would just… receive him. As a friend. As a confidant. As an advisor. As a Father. It delights him to lavish his extravagant love upon us.
I am the first to struggle with the discipline of getting still and I will spend a lifetime learning to be still. I need to just be under the canopy of God’s love more than anyone.
Yet, dialed in, God’s voice is a still, small whisper of peace to my spirit. A symphony of joyful bird calls. Free like wildflowers and swelling with joy — if we will only hear it.
I‘ll close with a charge from Matthew 6:25-34:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.
Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Dear friends, May God bless you this week with knowledge that you are perfectly and wonderfully made just as you are, and may you receive the truth that you can just be in God’s love and nothing more is required, as your purpose flows from being authentically yourself in His presence.
Blessings and love,
three strands