He Maketh Me...

We often choose activity over awareness, busyness over being, rushing about over relaxation all while bemoaning the need for calm and a moment to simply catch our breath. God in his wisdom hears and lands us in a situation where we can do nothing but "be still" and if you my reader are anything like me, you are likely to panic. Thoughts run something like, okay God, I have done the two things I had on my traveling to-do list, all I can do now is sit and be quiet. I can't do this!

For a week now God has placed me in just such a situation. I am in Jamaica where it has rained steadily at times fiercely for the past week. In my mental busyness and anxiety to "do" what needs to be done there is so much I could miss if I refuse to be still in his hands. High in the hills of Kingston, Boone Hall, Stony Hill to be exact, the verdant green hills touch the lowering clouds, eagerly receiving their gift of cooling nurturing rain. The bamboos sway in their own particular rhythm and tree frogs uncertain whether its twilight or dawn, sing anyway.

I venture to the porch and hold my glass under the gutter feeling the cool water on my wrist and watch the glass fill in minutes. Cool, clear and yes, pure water straight from the heavens. How long has it been since I drank rain waiter? I sleep to the sound of the rain like an angry locomotive or a fanciful drummer on the roof. In the bosom of my family I am fed to perfection, we sit quietly together or talk and laugh and marvel at the gift of each other. We pray for our sister beseeching heaven to give life, and follow he news of those around us who are threatened by the rising floods. Nothing is according to our plan. He makes me to rest and I rejoice in his perfect will and unfathomable timing - in spite of myself.