One thing Disney does well is provide an escape. An escape from the life back home, work, or any stuff you are dealing with. It becomes a distraction from the world around you as you walk the crowded streets of the magic kingdom and you can easily get overwhelmed by this fantasy world.
So as I am walking the streets of Disney, riding the bus, and taking it all in, I noticed one profound thing. Noise. Constant Noise. Voices and sounds every step you take. Even the bus ride back to your lodging has piped in music set to the theme of your location. I found myself longing for silence. I think so many times we try and escape the world around us with distractions like Disney. It's easier to deal with life sometimes in the noise, because then we don't have to deal with ourselves. If we can just keep our mind filled with work, media, music, etc., then we can ignore who we really are.
It's in the solitude and silence that we can't escape a self evaluation. In those moments we can open our hearts and minds a little more to God's leading, to a true examining of our hearts, to asking those tough questions about our faith and trying to sort through them in prayer and the Word. I long for these times. I remember experiencing them in the Paria Canyon on our Epic trip, but I find myself longing more and more for these times with God. Like I said, its easy to give ourselves a lot of distractions in life. I am very guilty of that. Finding ways to stay busy so I don't have to deal with my own spiritual life. Finding ways to avoid conviction, silence, perhaps God's direction.
Why do we do this? Well its too easy to blame the devil, although I am confident he does try to distract us. But for the most part, I think it comes from within. We may be dying out to sin, but sin is not dying out to us. That sinful nature tries to constantly drag us back into a selfish way of living. A way of living that doesn't want to slow down and get completely honest with ourselves and God. So the struggle is within these thoughts. I want to be a follower of Christ. I want to fall more in love with Jesus and truly bring glory to God with my life. I say I want these things but do I really want them. If I really wanted them, wouldn't I be pursuing them with great passion.
And so in all this I am thankful for God's grace. A grace that helps me leave behind a selfish way of life whose motive is all about me, to a life that finds his motive in Jesus. I know I need to stay in tune with that grace. And I know to do that I need to get way from the distractions some times and find that silence and solitude that I couldn't find at Disney. How about you? Are you finding that silence and solitude with Jesus as well?
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Keith...you nail one of the key threats to a vital life of connectedness to Jesus...incessant inerruptions, preoccupations and lack of intentional pursuit of intimacy with Jesus. Takes great discipline and strength of will to carve out the time, to really listen to the "still, small voice." Pray during this sabbatical time you will experience lots of His presence as you experience silence and solitude. It's almost unheard of in our noisy existences. Blessings!
ReplyDeleteKeith,
ReplyDeleteNow you know why I go fishing as much as I can; it's an escape from the noise; it's time to spend reflecting on life, listening for God, praying to Him. Accepting His gifts with open arms: the warm sunshine of a mid-afternoon, the cool breeze just as I start to get hot, the wildlife in and around the water and the circle of life that He created there and the gift of catching a fish. The solidness of these experience's are rooted in my very first memories as a child. God allows me to escape this way; it's a calling or yearning to be there, even if for only 15 minutes. In His name!