Weekend Words

I know for many of you it's summer, but here in Tasmania it is winter.  We don't have snow in the area I live, but we do have bare branches :)

From Amish Peace - Tricia Goyer

The Rhythms of Nature

Even the stork that flies across the sky knows the time of her migration, as do the turtledove, the swallow, and the crane.  They all return at the proper time each year.  But not my people!  They do not know the Lord's laws.

Jeremiah 8:7

Snow covers the silent ground, and an Amish couple sits by lantern light looking through a seed catalog.  Outside, a cold wind rattles bare branches, but in their mind's eye the husband and wife are considering the seasons to come: the earth's thaw and a hint of warmth on the breeze, followed by spring planting.  Green shoots sprout, and fields are cultivated to protect young plants from the threat of weeds.  Then, later, comes the harvest.  Cutting, raking, bundling, drying.  The loving Creator designed an arc of life and growth.  Even when winter's cold grasp holds the world outside our windows, we know that it only lasts so long.

Sometimes in our world of to-do lists and electronic devices we miss the rhythm of nature.  We trade our fall sweaters for winter parkas but forget that seasons are about more than simply adjusting our clothing choices.  God's creatures know the journey of the seasons, and the Amish understand too.  They live and work in the rhythms of nature.  Just as spring is a time of hard work, winter is a change of pace.  Do you live by this too?

Have you lost touch with the rhythms of nature?  Do you forget to pause and consider the natural world?  Take a moment and look outside your window.  What we see outside is a reminder to us to still our lives and our hearts.  There is a time to plow, a time for growth, a time to harvest, and a time to be still.

Is there a way to add stillness to your day?  Do you have ten minutes to sit before God?  Look at your calendar.  Can you carve out some extra time for rest or quietness, knowing that another season of work is right around the corner?

Dear heavenly Father, treating each season of life as the same is so easy - with a similar to-do list and the same urgency about my work.  Help me to rest today.  Open my eyes to the rhythm of nature and still my heart - not for the sake of stillness, but so you can speak.  Amen

Rest time is not waste time.  It is economy to gather fresh strength. - Charles Spurgeon