Saturday, Jan. 20, 2024

listening

sandy tanis

My mother-in –law taught first grade for 30 years. Her least favorite month was January, because there were no holidays in the month (this was way back when), which meant that there was nothing special to base a lesson plan upon and get the kids enthused.

January can be a month of nothing. After all the hectic pace of celebrating Thanksgiving and Christmas, we continue along this path, perhaps losing focus in our life. January is usually a cold and dreary month, we spend more time inside. We pace around the house attacking projects ignored for the past 2 months. We sit in our office overwhelmed by the stack of memos to read, emails to respond, calls to be made. Things happen, people arrive and leave, time runs backward and then forward, thoughts and dreams leave us confounded. Much of it may be meaningless, but because we are not present, are we missing that which is exceptional, worthy, vital. We often wonder where God is in all this nothing. Maybe we are not looking in the right place.

Nothing implies a lack of doing, when in fact, it is the perfect opportunity to watch, listen, and reflect. Frederick Buechner writes, “Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.” To watch and listen to your life requires nothing to do, only to be. How perfect! “Be still, and know that I am God.” Psalm 46:10.