lake reflections 286/366

 

I spent an hour or so both Monday and Tuesday evenings at Grayson Lake reflecting on my life. As I watched the water in front of me I noticed how different things influence, change or further distort the reflection of the trees. Light. Shadows. Fish. Boats. 

I've considered how the light of Jesus has and continues to change me. How darkness, disruptions, additions and subtractions in my life have affected the way I think, the way I see, the way I act and react.

Tonight was dinner and Bible Study with friends so I didn't go to the lake. I tried to avoid reflecting after I returned to the quiet of my home but the distractions I chased only kept me busy for a couple of hours. When I began writing this evening the words "Be still" from Psalm 46 came to mind. As you read keep in mind 2 things: 

1. according to footnotes Selah may mean pause, or rest 

2."cease striving" is translated "be still" in several other translations

Psalm 46 NASB

"God is our refuge and strength,
A very present help in trouble.
2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change
And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea;
3 Though its waters roar and foam,
Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride. Selah.*

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
The holy dwelling places of the Most High...

7 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah.

8 Come, behold the works of the Lord...
10 “Cease striving** and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”
11 The Lord of hosts is with us;
The God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah."

Life is a bit chaotic and uncertain, change happens and I feel unsettled and confused about what I am supposed to  "do now" which often results in me choosing to practice busyness, working hard and harder, whether I accomplish anything or not. 

I want , or more accurately, I require time to Selah, to pause, to reflect on the things I know to be true about God and who I am in Him.

Pausing stops me from running in circles, creating ruts while chasing my tail.

Being still, ceasing to strive, ends my toddler like struggles and the tantrum-like thinking of "I do it myself". 

How silly, when it is very clear I can't "do it myself". I can't even identify what "it" is! 

These are my resolves after reflecting on Psalm 46 tonight:

I will run to my Refuge rather than in circles.

I will lean and depend on, and draw from, His strength rather than my weakness.

I will call to mind that He is always present whether I feel Him or not.

I will choose trust and faith in Him over fear of what is before me.

God is with me.

God is my stronghold.

Selah.

I love it when I realize that God meets me where I am rather than where I think He will/should. What He started at the lake He finished in my family room. He's such a good, kind, patient, gentle, faithful, loving Father.