No Two-By-Fours

The Lord said, "Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by."
Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, "What are you doing here, Elijah?" (1 Kings 19:11-13 NIV)

This is one of my favorite scripture passages.  For some reason we expect God to speak to us in big ways.  We WANT him to hit us "upside the head with a two-by-four."  Why?  Because we are way too busy to be bothered with listening for that gentle whisper.

And so we miss out on hearing God speak.

If we insist on the two-by-four or the sign dropped on our heads, we will very well miss much of what God has to say to us.  Yes, sometimes he will smack us upside the head; usually when others will benefit from our actions... after all, why should others suffer for our unwillingness to be still?

On the other hand, if it is something in our own lives that we want to change or improve, why should God be the one to make all the effort?  God knows it is to our own benefit to take time away from our busyness and time away from the noise and craziness of the world to just "be still and know that I am God."  And he has all the time in the world for he is outside of time.  He will wait.

If you have been waiting for a two-by-four that hasn't yet come, perhaps God is waiting for you... waiting for you to take time to listen quietly so that he may speak more eloquently to your heart.

Father,
We are often too busy to listen... not just to you, but even to one another.  Help us to be present in all our conversations today.  Amen.

Joys:  a great hike with Leila; Cecelia's Sweet Frog concoctions; silence