Be Aware

Are you like me?

Someone asks you what you’ve been up to or what you’ve been doing lately – and your answer is along the lines of “not much” or “same old same old”, or “just the usual”.

At the beginning of this year I resolved to try to take a photo each day of something that I had done or a place that I’d been, with the challenge of not repeating a place or activity for the whole year. With my phone now doubling as my camera, the theory is that I’d have a camera with me wherever I went, so capturing something would be the easy part.

Taking the photo each day translates into a minimum of 365 unique activities/places I needed to do or be, which I expected to be the difficult part.

So I’m now quite a few weeks in, and the challenge has had mixed success.

What I’ve found the hard part to be is remembering to take a photo! Every day I seem to either go someplace different, or do something I’ve never done before, or I meet someone new or have an experience that is likely to be a once a year experience. Funny, I’d never really thought about just how varied the activities and people of my daily life are. But every day brings at least something new or different than the day before.

I do ‘much’. It’s not always the ‘same old same old’, and how can 365 different things a year be classified as ‘the usual’? My response should more accurately be “I’ve been doing so many things I haven’t got time to tell you them all!”

In the Bible, it declares that the presence of God is everywhere, that God is ‘omnipresent’. Writers of ancient Psalms (songs) talked of not being able to ‘escape’ the presence of God – that no matter where we go or what we do, we cannot move beyond the reach of God. That we can’t step outside the sphere of God’s love, God’s protection, God’s guidance, or God activity.

With so much going on in life, that thought gives me comfort. Through the year I will experience highlights and lowlights, excitement and humdrum, sorrow and joy. But whatever comes my way, wherever I am or whatever I’m doing, God is there, with me.

Perhaps my challenge for next year may be to capture an image every day that reflects that omnipresence of God?

If I can just remember to take the photos….

www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington

Be Still

One of my sons is one of those kids who can never sit still. Always flitting about from one place to the next, never finishing what he starts before he’s off to something else.

And he’s got to touch everything – and everyone. We his parents are forever saying “keep your hands to yourself”.

 I think he gets the hyperactivity part of it from me. Watching movies at the cinema is a struggle, having to sit in a chair without moving for so long. I stand up when riding on the train so I can move about. Long car drives just about kill me.

Jiggle, squirm, twist, turn, stretch, walk, run, always moving. Even in bed at night I toss and turn, dragging blankets and sheets here there and everywhere.

There’s a verse in the Bible that says ‘be still and know that I am God’. Which obviously presents a challenge to someone like me who has trouble being still.

But I read recently that the Hebrew word for ‘still’ apparently means “to cease striving”. It’s more a concept of putting our hands down and letting God take care of the situation without my interfering. It was a helpful word picture for me. We use our hands to grab things, or to push things out of the way. Our hands are used to protect ourselves – if I’m going to be struck by something or someone I put my hands up. With hands by our side we feel a bit more open and vulnerable. When we have our hands on something we feel more in control (ala the car steering wheel!)

So the message from God may be more along the lines of : “keep your hands to yourself. Stop pushing or pulling or grabbing – let me help. Stop struggling and allow me to do my thing.”

In all of the circumstances of life, we can better experience the presence of God, the power of God and the peace of God, if we’ll just drop our hands, and allow God to use His.

@lane_colin
www.salvationarmy.org.au/mornington