Give me a word, Lord: STILLNESS OF THE DAWN

Psalm 62:1-2 I wait quietly before God,  for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation,  my fortress where I will never be shaken.

Psalm 62:5-6 Let all that I am wait quietly before God,  for my hope is in him. He alone is my rock and my salvation,  my fortress where I will not be shaken.

This morning, I’m not sitting at my cozy kitchen table writing, nor am I sitting on the back deck listening to the creek trickle along. Nope! Today I am writing to you from another one of my happy places. I am sitting way up high in an old hunting house…waiting on a deer. I’ll confess that when the alarm buzzed at 5:00 am, my body said that I should stay in that warm, comfy bed, but my brain said go so here I sit bundled up in my hunting suit feeling like the Pillsbury dough boy.

My husband drove me to the hunting house while it was still very dark out. However, the sky was clear and crisp, and a beautiful full moon lit up the dark night sky. I settled in, and I waited. It was very dark and very still. I sat here quietly waiting in the stillness for the dawn of a new day. Slowly, the sun began to make its presence known. The first glimmer of orange peeked through the pine trees. It looked as though the trees were on fire. Slowly, but surely, the sun gradually rose higher and the darkness was overcome by the light. Birds are happily singing praises to the new day. The cows are lowing in the distance. Three does have walked through already. This moment in time is absolutely splendid!

Before coming out today, I was thinking about all of the blessings of 2020. As this year comes to a close, we thank God for helping us make it through the year. I bet that I could spend all morning making a list of all of the bad things that happened this past year, but instead I choose to see the goodness. I sit here in the stillness of the dawn thanking and praising God for the goodness of 2020 as well as the bad. A lot of great things happened this past year, and we received many blessings. We can’t discount those blessings and ignore them just because we think we saw more bad than good this year. Today I am able to be still and count those blessings and praise God for every single one!

We rush through life running from one task to the next. We wear ourselves down with the busyness of each day. We start each day overwhelmed with the pressures of society, and we are drained before we even walk out the door. It doesn’t have to be that way, my friends. We have to make time to be still. Take time to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation, and take time to be still in the presence of God as each new day dawns.

I love this old hunting house. I get to sit up here and see nature at its best. Through this dirty old window, I’ve seen deer, wild turkeys, hogs, bobcats, squirrels, and birds, and this morning I’ve already seen a doe, a yearling, a four point buck and a six point buck. I’ve enjoyed sunrises and sunsets. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it, but I must confess that the thing I love most about it is the stillness that I get to enjoy with my Lord and Savior.

Take some time today to be still with the Lord! I guarantee you that that stillness will be the best part of your day too!