When you get quiet enough, you can start to hear the brown leaf tumbling across the path. When you get quiet enough and sit near the creek that appears to be completely frozen, you can begin to hear water flowing beneath the ice and if you stay in silence the water becomes the only thing you can hear.
God has been inviting me to consider the life of 80%. Now before you think you could never and it may seem impossible because we can’t cancel 20% of our activity, I’m finding that 20% of my noise is simply my phone.
As I’m allowing life to get a little quieter, I can hear the voice of God better. I am happier to hear my husband’s voice and my kids’ voices and my heart has had more space, so it is more ready when things fall apart.
This is how I am responding to God’s invitation into 80%. It’s really simple. When I stand in line, I just stand there and let things get quiet rather than reaching for my phone. I’m still calling my friends, but not every moment I jump in the car. Sometimes I’m allowing my mind to drive in silence. I’m putting my phone away when I’m home so I don’t mindlessly scroll.
It’s calming my mind.
I wonder if scrolling is allowing poison into our eyes, minds and hearts like an IV gently dripping fear, discontentment, comparison and distraction into us continually all day long.
How often do we look up from our phones when it isn’t something we have intentionally looked up and felt refreshed and revived? We don’t need to stop reading everything, but what might happen if we were intentional with what we allow our eyes to see and our hearts to absorb?
What if we stopped? What could we hear? How might we be able to respond more readily to the people we love? What dreams may God have right in front of us that we have been missing?
I think that 20% is available. I wonder if we are holding it in our hands. I think there is more to our own actual lives and if we put our phones down, I think we will be able to hear it.
Like that crisp little leaf rolling down the path and the water beneath the frozen stream, I wonder if we will be able to hear Him. I believe you might. I think you will.
HLLF,
