This past week I spent several days in Pierre, SD participating with the Dakotas Conference Board of Ordained Ministry. We meet about three times a year to take care of the business of reviewing candidates for ministry and also caring for other business as it relates to clergy and churches of the Dakotas Conference. It was a good three days.
However, I’m not writing this reflection about the meeting. Actually, I’m writing this reflection about what I experienced on the drive to and from Pierre. What I noticed was the beauty of the rolling hills as I headed north along highway 83. It had been quite some time since I’ve been that way and just seeing the roll of the prairie and the sway of the grass in the breeze was truly a work of art and a thing of beauty.
It was amazing to see the emptiness of the prairie. Oh, there was an occasional tree, but there was just a whole lot of nothing out there and that was great to experience. Living in Mitchell, I am so used to seeing buildings, trees, vehicles, etc. everywhere. That just becomes the norm. Then when I see emptiness, it really is amazing, and it can also be rather startling. Yet, in that emptiness there can also be a sense of peacefulness.
So, this was the scenery I noticed as I was driving to my meeting. I truly enjoyed the vastness of the open prairie. Then while I was at the meeting at First UMC in Pierre, I was using the bathroom facilities, and I noticed a framed picture on the wall in the bathroom. Actually, it wasn’t a picture as much as it was a saying tastefully framed. The saying was, “Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud.” Several times during my time at Pierre First UMC, I sought out that same restroom to once again read that saying and to be reminded of its important message.
After the meetings had ended and I was driving south on Highway 83, I found myself looking at that open prairie once again. In that quiet space of the open prairie, I was able to pay attention to God in a way that I couldn’t in other spaces where things are loud and busy. For myself, I’ve always known this to be true about myself. It is in the beauty, stillness, and openness of nature that I am best able to see and connect with God.
Then it hit me, this is what a set aside time with God is about each day, and why this devotional time is often referred to as one’s “quiet time.” Because it is in those moments that we find a way to shut out the chaos and noise of the world around us and simply allow the quietness of the moment to wash over us so that our ears might be attuned to the “whispers” of God.
Now I realize that for some people, being out in the openness of nature is not an environment for connecting with and listening to God. That’s why each person needs to find the setting in which they are most open to the whispers of God. Whatever that setting is like, we each need to regularly take some time to step into that kind of space to be in the presence of God.
I am glad for my “country” upbringing. It truly allows me to appreciate nature and empty spaces. So, my challenge for each of us today is to find that space that provides an openness in your heart and mind to the presence and whispers of God. Once you’ve found that place, be sure to linger there and listen because I believe that sign in the church bathroom is true – “Make time for the quiet moments as God whispers and the world is loud.”
Pastor Keith