Nests

My wife, Beth, and I find ourselves where so many have already found themselves or one day will find themselves. We are officially empty-nestors. Our oldest son was home for a few months while he transitioned from Chicago to Minnetonka. Our youngest started college at UMD last week. It got really quiet in our house immediately. To be forthright, I am a person who likes it quiet. But this isn’t that kind of quiet. The first kind of quiet you anticipate will be broken this kind of quiet has no termination point. It’s kind of eerie. There are certain times when it is especially profound. Probably the most difficult time is when we come home from church. Well for me anyways and it has only been two Sundays.

Psalm 46 has been a companion for me. There are many strong, beautiful, majestic, glorious pictures in the psalm. Refuge, strength, help, presence, victorious warrior, judge are all descriptors of Almighty God and then this…”Cease striving and know that I am God…” (I memorized it as Be Still) The point is the same. Quiet. Sit. Stillness…Know God. This qualitatively different quietness in our home is a blessed opportunity to know God. That which is eerie becomes welcoming. That which is emptiness become fellowship with God. That which is mourning is turned to dance. That which is empty becomes full.

Beloved where has God met you recently? In the quiet? In the mundane? In the stillness? Through the noise? During the tremendous? While in the rat race? He is there…cease striving and know that He is God.