Finding Time - 10 May 2011
If you’ve ever planned a wedding or known someone planning one, you know there is very little time to do what, until that point, was common. At least for a man such as myself. No time. I have, for a very long time, been a strong believer in naps, nights of pointlessly doing nothing, and simply sitting in complete and total solitude. Now those days are far gone and replaced with evenings of making guest lists, registering for kitchen utensils I didn’t even know existed, and the occasional argument over how many pairs of “garage jeans” I really need. And you know what? I wouldn’t change it for the world.
You’re probably thinking at this point that I’m ranting on about some minor life adjustments I have to make in my last month as a single man. Which I am. What I am also ranting about is what God has done through this time of stress and slimming down of my manly baggage. You see, before meeting my soon-to-be wife, I took solitude for granted. As just a part of life I was lucky to have it on a far-too-regular basis. The fact is, I didn’t know how to cherish solitude and rest the way I do now. In short, I didn’t know I needed silence when it was such an undervalued part of my life.
I was asked the other day what the hardest part of the wedding process has been. After a few minutes of sporadic thoughts I said, “Being still.” Noting the confusion on my friend’s face, I explained that in planning a wedding so much of your every day thought becomes more and more focused on the other person in the relationship and less and less on God. If it weren’t for peace and quiet, my mind would undoubtedly continue down that path of worldly thought toward her, checklists and must-haves and would never make it back to God, the one who put her in my life to begin with. Even more, if it weren’t for the rest and silence, I wouldn’t be able to hear the voice of God asking for changes in my own life and mind.
The fact is, as I have come to realize, that silence and rest in the Lord requires effort. Effort we may not desire to put in at the time. Effort we may want to put into other worldly aspects of our life. I encourage you to look at your life and see what is taking you away from your silence and confiding in the Lord and find out other ways to seek time alone with the Lord. I assure you, what is keeping you from him is likely something he’s blessed you with.
-David H. Hutton
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