He leads beside still waters...

He leads me beside quiet waters… he restores my soul. —Psalm 23:2

I am sitting by still waters today, but there is a party on the lake. People having fun; diving in and dive-bombing into the water. Someone is tubing on the lake as well, and jets skis too.

It is not exactly quiet, but it does restore my soul.

Just when I was going to write that it is calmed down now, there is another whoop from the party boat. It is so peaceful here by the water, despite the party. I took my shoes off and dangled my feet in the lake.

I love the sound of water lapping up on the shore. It is so soothing. It reminds me of the Allegheny river when I was young. My Grandpa Simey would take us out on the rowboat. We would pack a lunch and I remember the waves lapping on the shore of the river as we parked our boat on the island.

Back under the canopy of green I feel so restful. How can I not be? The Spirit of God is here. He whispers to me in the wind in the trees. I would love to lie down in green pastures, but the mosquitos are so bad, I am not willing do it… even though I have repellent on.

There is a saying in the prayer cabin that says, "In stillness I can hear you whisper, calling deep and deeper still." It reminds me of the Psalm 42:7 and 8, that says, "Deep calls to deep… by day the Lord directs his love and night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life."

I love this verse; I love it because God is constantly there with us. By day sending his love and by night singing over us. Twenty fours a day. All year through. No matter what is going on. Even in a pandemic.

The thing is we are rarely silent enough to hear God speak. That is the sad reality. We fill the air with our own voices, the TV, the radio. There is also a plaque up on my wall in my office by Ralph Waldo Emerson that says, "Let us be silent that we may hear the whisper of God."

God speaks his heart to us, in order to hear him, we must learn to, "Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) It is hard to be still. I know my hubby always needs to busy, tinkering with this and that. But he carves out time every morning to sit with his Savior, reading his Bible and praying.

That is the gift we give back to God. Learning to listen to his voice.

Silence is the language of God, all else is a poor translation. —Rumi