Spiritual Reflection
This Lent, Stop, Look and Listen
by Louise Buck
“Work as if everything depends on you and pray as if everything depends on God.” All too often, I act on the first and forget the rest of it - I become “self-will run riot.” And “therein lies disaster” as my Dad says. I am especially prone to forgetting who’s in Charge when life gets hard, when there’s stress in the family, in the nation and in the world. Which sure seems to be the case at present and I find myself easily off balance. Luckily, though it’s hardly luck, since it is intentionally so, my daily life is shot through with reminders a picture, a cross, a figurine, daily Scripture reading; the world itself is full of reminders to stop, look and listen. This little saying worked when we were kids, and it still does.
STOP. Stop rushing. Stop driving and walk. Stop worrying and trust. Stop wishing and Start working. Stop living in fear and walk in faith. Stop regretting the past and live boldly today. Stop listening to the outside, turn off the radio, turn off the TV and listen within. Stop and admire an agapanthus in bloom. Believe it or not, even that octagonal red and white STOP sign can be an invitation rather than an annoyance. Really Stop.
LOOK. Look at a newborn, those perfect fingers and toes. Look into the eyes of those you love. Look out at the sea, and watch the waves come in endlessly. Look down at the sand and feel its warmth on your feet, the wind in your hair. Look at nature and see its patterns and its intricacies, its internal structure. Look up at the sky, at the clouds, the stars. I have a screensaver from www.distantsuns.com which has become an invitation to stop and look in wonder. It tours the solar system, showing “the vast expanse of interstellar
space,” Saturn with its rings, the moons of Jupiter, “galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses.” Sometimes as I am walking by, distracted by whatever, I am startled to see the earth hanging in all it’s blue loveliness in the midst of the darkness: “this fragile earth our island home.” Stop, look and listen. Life falls into its right perspective. God, the Maker of all, holds us in his palm, holds us in BEING.
LISTEN. Listen to the still small voice within. Listen to the sound of children’s laughter carried on the wind, to the voice of your spouse. Listen to your heart. Listen to the stillness, to the birds, the wind through the leaves. Listen to the enthusiasm of youth and the wisdom of age. Listen.
Louise Buck is a member of St. David’s Episcopal Church who writes for her parish Newsletter in San Diego.
Reprinted with permission.
