October 30, 2015 we found an apartment in Devon, PA. So, Dave and I have been sorting, packing and preparing to begin life in a two bedroom apartment. That’s a major downsize from a four bedroom home with two garages plus a study in the church building! There have been a lot of decisions and many trips to Good Will to bless others with what the Lord had given to us.
For twenty years I’ve stood at the kitchen window and reminisced on God’s goodness to us. I’ve thanked Him, made requests for family and friends with my eyes open many times. And I have praised Him, rejoicing in the beauty of the morning, gazing out at my garden alive with color in the springtime, or looking out on people sitting at our picnic table under a canopy of trees in the summer, or watching a squirrel scamper across the yard and birds flock in the trees in on a beautiful autumn afternoon, or looking out at the moon on a clear crisp winter night. I remember the Bible verse, “Be still and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
In the Bible it also says in that verse that HE will be exalted in the earth! So much of His creation goes unnoticed by many, but HE tells us here that HE will be exalted. We are at the end of autumn, and today the wind was blowing leaves down upon us like rain, as we traveled to Devon to take the measurements in our new apartment. I commented to Dave that humanity is much like the leaves before us on the road. Every so often a gust of wind would send much of them scurrying around. It reminded me of people going along, just fine until something came upon them and caused a flurry of emotion, be it a family squabble, a child’s crying and whining, a friend’s misunderstanding, or a church full of people disagreeing about something at a business meeting.
At any of these times we need to remember that God says, to be still. Sometimes it is all it takes to just sit down and talk with a family member, enjoying their presence, comforting an anxious or tired child in your arms, or taking a friend out for tea and finding out just how the misunderstanding started. The church should be a place where God’s word is heeded and obeyed. So, if HE says to be quiet, then we should!
Oh, there’s times when it seems like life is like a frenzy of leaves when they scurry here and there, but God’s word is true. So, sometimes, oftener than I did in my youth, I stand at the window and be still, still remembering God’s goodness, contemplating HIM, and His characteristics, and then my world gets calmer!
I thought today while wrapping up my dishes in bubble wrap, when December 5 arrives and our boxes are all packed, the house is all clean and we turn in the keys to the parsonage and then to settle into our small apartment, and we will have lots and lots to unwrap! Christmas! We will thank God for sending His son, Jesus, to us so someday we can live with HIM! Now that will be “home sweet home.”
Love, joy, and peace,
Sharon