Sun shining the past several days has felt so good. Warmer air, the smell of grass, birds calling to each other…change is literally in the air…change of all kinds.

How tempting it is to skip through the change process to answers and activities we love. Often the work involved can seem to take over everything. It doesn’t take long before we get depleted. The waiting for answers, direction, or relief wearies us. The lack of normalcy in rhythm, task and sheer enjoyment of life can make us feel out of sorts, off kilter or like we can’t quite get solid footing.  

When change comes, we find ourselves wondering when life will be normal again. We find ourselves alternating between paralyzed (I don’t know what to do next) or prematurely confident (we just need to…then we’ll be…). It’s easy to grasp after some kind of definition…some clarity in the process…how long it will last, what it will take, and how much further we have to go. And yet, in His wisdom, God reveals only what we need to know for the next step. It’s not always easy to be with that.

How we need to stop for a minute and take a deep breath. We need a small “step out,” little windows of space where we set aside all the mess for the moment and just be with God. Oh, how He longs for us to turn our eyes away from the chaos and let them rest on Him. How we long to do it. Our souls yearn to be still…to sit and be nourished by the Bread of Life…to quench our thirst with Living Water. To let the rudiments of change fall away, for this moment, leaving just…us…and God. In that quiet place we can freshly see where we are. Belief in God as the Sustainer of Life, the One who weeps with us and opens up the way for us, the One who holds all things together in Himself, these beliefs are remembered and affirmed. Encouraged in this pilgrim way, we are able to offer trust again. Perspective shifts. Strength is restored.

ACTION: Perhaps right now you’d like to take some time to just sit. Or take a walk. Do something you don’t normally do. Whatever you do, breathe deeply. Unclench your jaw. Relax your neck. Roll your shoulders. With each breath offer your cares to God. Let Him remind you of His life flowing in you.

You can watch your breath,

you can be conscious of your diaphragm rising and falling,

conscious of the movement of life in you.

For this time as I breathe in and out,

all I am is a place where life is happening.

The breath moves in, the breath moves out;

I am a place where life is happening.

And if I am a place where life is happening,

I am a place where GOD is happening.

—Rowan Williams, Being Human