My list of 1000 gifts has received quite a few new additions during the past week. Most of them are rather personal and/or involve others, so today I’m going to share #109.
As you know from my post earlier this month, God has been calling me to let Him teach me how to meet Him in the stillness. I’m still waiting on the full revelation, but in the meantime, He keeps showing me little bits and pieces of why this lesson is so important.
On Friday, one of my online blogging friends shared some more on her own experience of learning to meet God in the stillness. Jewel was doing what we all do…asking God questions and looking for assurance that she was where God wanted her…and God reminded her of a memory:
I was sitting on a porch overlooking a pond. I felt what I saw displayed; stagnant and unmoving. I begged God for something that revealed that I was where I needed to be. It was then He met with me as He drew my eyes to a spot in the pond.
Suddenly the pond was set in motion when something lighted the surface. At that moment, from that one touch, the waters started rippling out. As I watched their path I saw something that was absolutely stunning. The water rippled across the reflection of a brilliant red-leaf tree, creating a beautiful mosaic on the water.
She shared what God spoke to her about that beautiful picture. (I encourage you to go read it, for it is powerful and beautiful.) But God showed me yet another beautiful and powerful lesson in the pond’s ripples. This lesson is my gift #109.
That touch that causes the ripple…it is His touch. We are the water. And when it ripples through us in such a clear way, it touches those around us and makes them look to see what caused the ripple…they look to Him.
On the other hand, if we are a rushing, raging river, and He touches us, the ripples are lost in the torrent of us. Those whose lives we touch can’t tell the difference between Him and us.
This is why learning to be still and wait before Him is so crucial. Only when we learn to be still are the ripples of His touch undiluted. Only then can they be easily felt and seen by a world that needs Him so much.
Lord, my heart yearns even more for this stillness!
Thank you for sharing this beautiful truth today, I love it, so true and amazing for us to remember in our days when so much of it can be rushing about. I love stillness, it is a balm to the soul. Bless you.
Katie, When you visited my blog the words you left me blessed me so. Thank you!
Thank you also for your sweet kindness and support in sharing my blog post with others. You've blessed me!
Dear Katie, sweet young friend of mine, I loved this post, because STILLNESS is also the word of God for me at the beginning of this year.
Yes, I love what Julie on her blog wrote about the ripples…and esp. the touch, the gentle touch, that cause the ripples.
Somehow ripples are a kind of gentle shaking, and SIFTING was another word spoken to me by God as the year began.
This, as well as the SUDDENLIES… and all of the other things written in my blog the past weeks, has been such a source of rest and assurance for me.
You are a deep cup…you are able to watch and see what is happening underneath the surface. If I met you face to face, I am sure I would almost feel like I've known you all along. And this phrase seems true of you – SILENT WATERS RUN DEEP.
I perceive that you are a quiet observer, not a noisy chatterbox…
Thanks for visiting my blog place, and again leaving such a warm encouraging comment.
Glad I read this post, and the latest, about George Washington Carver…what an inspiration that post was to my heart as well.
Love
Lidj