It’s been one of those busy kinds of months for me.  Not necessarily busy in the sense that I always felt rushed or behind or stressed, but busy in the sense that it has been a full month - it’s nice to have stretches like this I think - lot’s gets accomplished and I stay pretty engaged in life; not a lot of wasted moments.

You would think that in the wake of such a busy couple of weeks, when I sat down to think about and write up a blog entry for SexRev that I would have several competing ideas to work from, harnessing something from my past month’s wisdom that I could share with you.  Sadly, this is not the case and it’s really not from a lack of exposure to stimulating conversation (I can think of one excellent conversation on a car trip back from London and another from a small group gathering last Monday) or being challenged by Scripture (I’m working through Ecclesiastes and the Gospel of Mark right now) or other books (NT Wright and Michael Frost are both giving me lots to chew on)…

I’m quite sure that if I wrestled enough with my recent conversations and readings I surely would be able to assemble something of interest for us to think about and discuss.  But here is what the dominant thought on my heart is this morning: there is something to be said in staying quiet.  Granted, I get the irony that it took me three paragraphs to “say” that, never mind the paragraphs that are to come, but stick with me here.

We live in a culture that is always on the move, and always has something to say.  The media is constantly pounding away trying to steal our attention; we are almost always plugged into some sort of device whether it be a phone, computer or iPod.  Between activities and work and friends, life fills up pretty fast and we can quickly find our day-to-day experience being a non-stop rush of organized chaos and noise.

In fact, the post on March 23 is a beautiful reminder (at least it was for me) and helped prime the pump for my current stream of thought.  It is good for us to take time and listen.  To unplug ourselves from a culture of distraction - whether that means turning off our iPods or shutting down our computers and phones.  Maybe this looks like escaping into nature, or maybe it is as simple as closing the door of your room for half an hour.  I don’t know what it will take for each of you but I do know this - it will require that we make an effort to make room for the quiet, because the quiet will not find us on its own.

If we look to Jesus as our example (and I would suggest that we should) we several times in the Gospels that He took time to slip away to be alone with the Father [Mark 1:35; 6:47, Luke 6:12; 9:18].  There is value in spending time with God, listening to what it is that He has to say.  The admonition in Psalm 46:10 is to “Be still and know that I am God.”  Take time out of the craziness of life to reflect on the truth that is our God.

I wonder how many times God has something to say to me but I’m too busy saying something else myself or being distracted by the many noises and voices around me?  I’m going to commit to listening for Him this week, even if it means sitting in awkward silence for a bit in the morning , settling my soul and giving Him my complete and undivided attention.  How about you?