– by Angela Brown

 

Mountains are such majestic, peaceful and challenging places to visit. At a distance, they tower over the landscape like royal palaces. Up close they offer a quiet serenity that lowers your blood pressure and quiets your soul. Climbing a mountain can be a delightful adventure while demanding all our strength, energy and focus to get to the top.

My husband and I are blessed to own a cabin in the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Georgia. We have so enjoyed our times there relaxing, exploring and conquering the challenges that arise. Honestly, we do more relaxing than conquering, but we really enjoy all the different flavors of mountain living.

This is where I do much of my journaling. The peaceful atmosphere provides a place of solitude and stillness helping me to become more observant of my surroundings. I take time to notice the little things like singing birds, rustling leaves, trickling waters and even my own heartbeat. I can sit back and enjoy the moment with no thought of schedules, pressures and expectations. I can just BE! (Image via Pixabay)

As I grow older, I am realizing I have spent much of my life missing the little pleasures life presents because I was unable to relax and just BE. Raising our children and helping my husband with his business demanded a lot of my time and energy. Most people face similar and even more challenging demands in their lives. It seems normal and common to be rushed, frazzled and fatigued in our busy world.

Is that the way it was meant to be? Were we created for chaotic lifestyles and crazy schedules that drain away our energy and peace? I don’t think so. But how, you might ask, do you avoid this dilemma? Everyone has to work and be responsible to make their way and support themselves and their families. Life is full of challenges and demands that cannot be avoided and aren’t invited. How do we balance life and learn to enjoy the journey?

The only person I know that can answer that question for me is God. He created me and arranged my destiny in His heart and He has the answers I need to proceed through life with peace, poise and purpose. How do I get Him to answer these mysterious questions unique to my life? BY BEING STILL and listening!!! That is an unbelievable challenge!

I am a performer by nature. I just want to say the right thing, do the right thing and produce the right things! I get so busy doing that I forget how to BE!

When I finally come to this place of BEING, I begin to notice the still, quiet promptings of His voice as well as those little things around me that speak of His love, His nature, His power and His wisdom. There are many lessons to be learned in the quiet stillness of our surroundings if we just MAKE the time to observe. Yes, we have to make time in our lives to be still, quiet and attentive. And we can do that no matter where we are if we practice it enough.

I believe we must choose to make BEING a priority. The mountains and beaches are great places to retreat and enjoy relaxing, but it’s not always possible to get there. So, we must learn to calm down, be still, listen and learn of Him and His marvelous ways. Surprising discoveries can happen in the quietness of His presence around us!

 

This post was written by Angela Brown.

Angela is the author of His Footstool and Secrets From the Sanctuary.