Lord, my heart is not proud; my eyes are not haughty. I don’t concern myself with matters too great or too awesome for me to grasp. Instead, I have calmed and quieted myself, like a weaned child who no longer cries for its mother’s milk. Yes, like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, put your hope in the Lord—now and always.
The simplicity of calmness is
something less practiced than wished for.
And we are our own worst enemy in this more than not. Today’s culture teaches us to be action
junkies, with TV cameras unable to stay focused on a single view longer than 1
or 2 seconds, jumping here and there.
There is more Adult
Attention Deficit Disorder than calmness, because excitement
is, well, more exciting than calmness.
From roller coasters to sky diving, we want the next biggest rush, an
app that promises a better game, a more shiny bauble, or most fun relationship. When it comes to the entertainment industry,
action movies, or anything fast-paced is much more likely to be a box office
hit, than a documentary on the mating habits of snails. Is it any wonder our heroes are more apt to
be professional athletes, movie stars, or those who produce the glitter?
It even invades the church. A friend, who was pastor of a large church in
Florida once confided that his main goal as this prominent church’s leader was
to put a roof over their 19
acres.
If bigger was better, it was go large, fast, higher and wider, or go
home. It almost cost him his family and
his health by the time he realized that his push for the top was digging the
health of his body and soul into a pit.
A day hardly passes where I am free
from the thought of how those involved in the push for higher, more, faster,
riskier, or stronger, are rarely satisfied with anything. And the end of it is, as Solomon found out,
empty!
Everything is wearisome beyond description. No matter how much we see, we are never satisfied. No matter how much we hear, we are not content. Ecclesiastes 1:8
When is it that we ever learn how
to be quiet and calm…weaned off hype, mature?
The answer to that question is what
the Psalmist found out; we are able to be content when our trust is in God, and
we have agreed to be weaned, just like a child finally comes to peace with
starting to eat on his own, rather than nurse.
It is the opposite direction from the Peter Pan syndrome, I won’t grow up, not me, no sir!
Truth be told, that feels
like suicide, jumping off a cliff. But
it is one way to develop trust between peers (that is, IF the person behind does his job…otherwise,
back to trusting only self). In the calmess
of soul we seek, no other human can provide that…it is only when we fall into
the arms of God that real calmness of soul happens.
It’s called weaning
off the hype of activity, by choosing to fall into the health of God’s loving
embrace. It really is a leap of faith.
Let’s
Pray Together:
Father, if there is one thing every soul craves, it isn’t a higher high, or more dizzying ride, glitz, glamor, or gold…that is all the stuff our carnal nature craves. As spiritual children, we need to be weaned from that. What mature believers really crave is calmness within. Help us to fall into Your arms, away from the drive for more stuff that is fading and empty.
For You Today
Sometimes…no….always,
people who are reaching for that next brass ring, must fall flat on their face
in their push for more. It is part of
the weaning process.
You
chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.
Have a blessed day!
