15 minutes of quiet

This last week at the Bridge of Storm Lake, I gave a challenge for my team members to spend 15 minutes in quiet or silence.  This for me meant no phone, music, videos, talking, etc.   We live in a world where it seems we are hardly ever quiet and hardly ever take the time to really just sit and think.  I know that I am incredibly guilty of this.  In fact, with my anxiety, I often am a bit intimidated by quiet spaces and times because that is when my anxiety can increase. 

For my 15 minutes of quiet, I decided to go to the lake and sit at a nice quiet spot.  (It was mostly quiet, except for a couple who started to play music).  It was the perfect weather, mid 70s, no wind, and hardly any bugs.  It was absolutely beautiful! I sat there by the lake for at least 15 minutes and then I did some reading.  There were a few things that I discovered/reflected on while I was out by the lake and having my 15 minutes of quiet.  The first thing that I noticed is that there is a bike/running path closer to the lake than I had been running on.  This was not my most meaningful of thoughts, but it was something I noticed.  I really want to go running on that part of the path next time I go out on a run.  

The second thing that I realized was one of the reasons that I love Storm Lake, Iowa.  It shows me a tiny bit of God’s end plan for heaven as well as he wanted earth to be originally.  It is a town that has a beautiful lake and trails right at its center.  This showcases God’s beautiful creation.  This is even why I am so excited for my next run and bike ride around the lake to get the chance to experience the beauty of creation even more.  Storm Lake, like many places in the world, gets to highlight God’s power and beauty in creation.  Storm Lake also showcases God’s ultimate plan for humanity and eternal life because of the diversity in town.  There are so many different people groups, languages, cultures, and individuals in Storm Lake.  We know that at the end of the world, when we are in heaven, we will see people from every tribe and nation praising God.  This is stated in Revelation 7:9, “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.” Storm Lake gives me a bit of the diversity that we will have at the end.  This is incredibly beautiful and unique to a small community in Iowa.  

The third thing that I reflected on while sitting at the lake was that I am really small.  I am just a lone person sitting by a somewhat small lake in comparison to other lakes knowing it could still swallow me up by its grand size.  Then I thought about the whole world and everything in it, and I started to remember that I am just one tiny piece.  To some, this might be a negative, however this was not the case for me.  I am hoping that I will always stay that small and keep that feeling.  I don’t ever want to think that I am grander and bigger than I am.  I want to stay a small piece in God’s big plan and creation.   I want God to always be the thing that is big.  Humility is really important.  It is important that we never think that we are grander than we are. 

The last big thing that I reflected on was that this is something I should spend some more time doing.  I should spend more of this time reflecting and thinking as I am staying very quiet.  I know that I can struggle with anxiety, so it is so much easier for me to distract myself as opposed to thinking.  However, I do believe that if I were starting to spend time in reflection and thinking that I could actually help myself fight my anxiety as opposed to just distract myself from it.  I would have to be fighting it head on.  My personal challenge to myself is to spend more time in quiet reflection and meditation.  My challenge now for most of you is to try to take your 15 minutes of quiet.  This means no talking, videos, music, social media, etc. Take that 15 minutes in God’s creation or doing something that you really love.  Reflect on what you are grateful for or are learning in your personal study.  The world is a crazy place (especially right now), but that doesn’t mean that every single moment of our lives has to be.