Slowing Down

"I only see it because I'm looking..."

I've been reading 1,000 Gifts this week, and it is slowly changing my heart. What does it look like to slow down and be thankful for the time you're in at the present? What does it mean to live as Jim Elliot once said, "wherever you are, be all there."

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Last week I told a Ugandan woman that she is blessed to live here. Her eyes shot open in surprise, "Me? Blessed? But you are from America. You are blessed." There is such beauty here. The stars shine just a little bit brighter, the red dirt roads are vibrant with color bursting all around. Lake Victoria and the Nile River are a stone's throw away. The sun almost always shines. And yet, in comparison to the abundance that we have in America, many are blind to the beauty that is right before them.

It is hard to slow down. It is difficult to just breathe and be thankful sometimes. But it's in that thankfulness, that stillness, that I find God.

I think David must have understood this well. So many of the Psalms start with a praise of thanks to the Lord. "Bless the LORD, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's." (Psalm 103:1-5)

When I was young, I went through the Psalms and circled every time it said "bless" or "praise". I wish I had that Bible with me as I can't recall how many thousands of words were circled, but the pages were filled with ink. I want my life to be like that. To be filled with praise.

In 1,000 Gifts, the author takes time to notice the little blessings in life, things as minute as a ray of sunshine hitting the suds of bubbles to make a rainbow. She repeats the phrase, "I only see it because I'm looking." I think of how often I don't see the beauty before me, the thousands of ways I can praise the Lord each minute, because I'm not looking. Because, honestly, I don't have time to just look. I'm too busy focusing on getting from here to there that I forget to stop and smell the flowers (which, if you know me at all, isn't entirely true in the literal sense...I like flowers!) But what would life look like if we made time for praise, if we scheduled in times of thankfulness. That doesn't need to be saved for the dinner table surrounding the turkey in November, it is a state of mind, of heart, that can change a life.

It's in this quietness that I can obey the Word of the Lord when He said, "Be still, and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10)