Merry Christmas,
Through our married life together Evelyn and I have been encouraged in the Lord by the ministry and laughter of Chuck Swindoll and Insight For Living. In case you're interested the holiday messages started today!
I rewrote a poem I thought went pretty well with something Chuck wrote on our need for quietness.
I rewrote a poem I thought went pretty well with something Chuck wrote on our need for quietness.
I am so very grateful for your prayers this Christmas.
WithLove, Jeff
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WithLove, Jeff
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Psalm 62:1
For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is from him.
SILENCE
In this place of quiet rest
I listen to God, I hear Him best,
I sense His Spirit speaking - still
Filling me - the peace of God,
His eternal will.
In this place of silent prayer
I speak to God, I meet Him here
I walk with Jesus my Lord and Shepherd
Guiding me - mostly carrying me
On the narrow road of His Word
In this place of tears and pain
I cry to God, I trust His Name
I try to remember He's in control
Alive in me - the holy part of me
That makes me whole
In this place of joy and peace
I sing to God, I sound the best
I hear my Savior singing too
Loving me - Keeping me
Perfectly in tune
___________
J. E. POLLOCK
DEC 17, 2009
For God alone my soul waits in silence, for my hope is
from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my
fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my deliverance and my honor; my mighty rock, my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. [Selah]
Psalm 62:5-8 (NRSV)
Quietness
by Charles R. SwindollPsalm 46, 131; Isaiah 30:15-18; Mark 6:30-32
It is almost 10:00, Monday night. The children are snoozing and snoring upstairs (or they should be!). Aside from a few outside noises---a passing car . . . a barking dog . . . a few, faint voices in the distance---all's quiet on the home front. That wonderful, much-needed presence has again come for a visit---quietness. Oh, how I love it . . . how I need it.
One of my most poignant memories of quietness occurred in California when I was walking with a friend along the sandy shores at Carmel. The silence of that early dawn was broken only by the rhythmic roar of the rolling surf and the cry of a few gulls floating overhead. The same thought I had then I have now: I cannot be the man I should be without times of quietness. Stillness is an essential part of our growing deeper as we grow older. Or---in the words of a man who helped shape my life perhaps more than any other:
We will not become men of God without the presence of solitude.Those words haunt me when I get caught in the treadmill of time schedules . . . when I make my turn toward the homestretch of the week and try to meet the deadline of demands, just like you. Alas, we are simply geared too high. Thanks to Alka-Seltzer, Excedrin, Sleep-eze, and Compoz, we repeat our nonproductive haste with monotonous regularity. As Peter Marshall put it:
We are in such a hurry, we hate to miss one panel of a revolving door.Talk about pollution! I want you to think about what our nervous systems undergo just to stay afloat: Noise (music, news, talk, laughter, machinery, appliances, phones, and traffic) from 6:00 a.m. 'til midnight. Speed (bumper-to-bumper at 65 mph, on-ramps and off-ramps, deadlines and appointments) that makes us frown rather than smile . . . that causes us to check our watches more often than checking in with our Lord. Activities (meetings, services, suppers, luncheons, breakfasts, rallies, and clubs---all "necessary" and "nice") that have a way of dismissing quietness like an unwanted guest. Sure---some things are important---super, in fact---but not everything. Listen, if you and I really treasure quietness, we will have to make time for it. When you feed it only the "leftovers" from the schedule, it always goes hungry.
Now, believe me, I'm not bitter. I'm just being direct and honest with you about an ingredient that cannot be ignored much longer in our lives without our paying a dear, dear price. I am jealous that we: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10 NIV). I am desperately concerned that we slow down and quiet down and gear down our lives so that intermittently each week we carve out time for quietness, solitude, thought, prayer, meditation, and soul searching. Oh, how much agitation will begin to fade away . . . how insignificant petty differences will seem . . . how big God will become and how small our troubles will appear! Security, peace, and confidence will move right on in.
This is what Isaiah, the prophet, meant when he wrote:
And the work of righteousness will be peace,You know something? That still, small voice will never shout. God's methods don't change because we are so noisy and busy. He is longing for your attention, your undivided and full attention. He wants to talk with you in times of quietness (with the TV off) about your need for understanding, love, compassion, patience, self-control, a calm spirit, genuine humility . . . and wisdom. But He won't run to catch up. He will wait and wait until you finally sit in silence and listen.
And the service of righteousness, quietness and confidence forever.
Then my people will live in a peaceful habitation,
And in secure dwellings and in undisturbed resting places (32:17-18).
Excerpted from Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life, Copyright © 1983 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights reserved worldwide. Used by arrangement with Zondervan Publishing House.
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Hush,
The Baby sleepsIn the arms of His loving mother,
The night is still
And the beasts of the stable
Hover near
In soundless adoration.
Hush,
The world's asleep
In the dreams of this loving Infant,
And our hearts are still
In boundless adoration.
Sleep, Child, sleep
Your sleep of purity.
Sleep, world, sleep
In God's security.--- Van Havner
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