Every Moment

One of the advantages of coming in out of the storm with my beach chair is that I have time to think because the wind isn't so noisy! Stress free for the time being, I have the mental and emotional space to bring back the balance in my life and give time to my personal reinvention.

Two ideas have emerged. One is to take the time provided for interpersonal connections. We weren't meant to do life alone or at a superficial level. We were created by God for intimacy, to know and be known by others. My heart has been at peace with the slower pace and the time allowed for meaningful interactions with friends and family members. I have had several deep conversations with people in the last couple of weeks, quite by accident, just because there is time. The quantity of time has provided for improved quality in my relationships. In the noise of the whipping wind, I had come to view this time with others as a luxury. I would say to a friend that maybe I could "sneak away" for coffee as if sharing our lives together is something in the category of eating chocolate or taking a bubble bath - frivolous and unnecessary. For Christmas my husband, who enjoys inspiring my heart, gave me a CD of Sarah Groves' new tunes. The gift reminded me of one of my favorite songs that she had written years back. In the lyrics of Every Moment, she speaks of the satisfaction she finds in authentic relationship, where the fine art of being is a precious use of time, where it doesn’t matter how long you stay because every moment given to self-discovery and knowing each other and loving each other well is a profound use of time.

The second idea that has emerged is to prioritize time for interpersonal character development. When I resigned from my job, I knew that I needed to take a closer look at my inner workings that manifested in my resignation. My husband shared his library of leadership resources with me and I read through the contents and chose those that resonated with my longing to understand my strengths and weaknesses of character more fully. Leading the pack was Ordering Your Private World by Gordon MacDonald, 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, Integrity by Henry Cloud, Renovation of the Heart by Dallas Willard. In one night of reading I put down a book feeling completely confirmed that I had chosen the right course of action - at least for the time being - to focus on personal growth. The one line that seemed directly in keeping with God's early voice to me in the constancy of the waves through the noise and sting of the wind was this, "There must be a quiet place where all is in order, a place from which comes the energy that overcomes turbulence and is not intimidated by it."