Filed under: Uncategorized
This morning when I came in to work I had a particularly busy brain. I arrived at work at about 7am so I could start my day with a quick workout. While I was exercising, as usually happens, my mind started to wander into a talk that I’m giving later this week. I was thinking about how far too rarely I am stopped in my tracks. How rarely I take the time to stop, listen, pray, and just relax away from the noise of my agenda for the day. For the talk I’m doing later this week, I’m using a from the book of Jeremiah in the Bible that goes like this:
“Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.”
But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.
Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”
Jeremiah 1:6-10
After I rushed through my workout I headed into the locker room. My busy brain was still going. I was beginning to frantically plan for how I was going to talk about “What stops you in your tracks?” The irony that I realized right then in the locker room was that I hadn’t been stopped in my tracks in my planning for talking about being stopped in my tracks. The first thing I thought was, “What an idiot!” Then I thought about the message God was handing me through the words in Jeremiah. Jeremiah is confessing that he doesn’t have all the answers, and that in fact, he doesn’t even know how to speak.
Sometimes when I’m trying to get my kids attention I actually have to stop them in their tracks, get them to look me in the eye, and then let them know that I have their best intentions in mind, and I have them covered. Like a father gently putting his hand over Jeremiah’s mouth, God says, “Stop right there man. I’ve got this one. I have the words for you. I have the agenda. I have the plan.” In that moment in the locker room, I sat down on the bench and spent the next fifteen minutes in silence, letting go of my day. While my busy brain is still here, I realized I don’t have all the answers and I may not get it all done. Most importantly, God stopped me in my tracks this morning.
What stops you in your tracks?
Dr. Rob McKenna
5 Comments so far
Leave a comment
This is a really interesting thing to think about, because I am not sure that much stops me in my tracks. I think many of us are so busy going through life, unable to clear our minds and more focused on the tasks at hand that we do not allow time for God to speak to us. As a result, our own thoughts and the words we speak are clouded by the thoughts in our mind, rather than allowing God to speak to us and through us.
I wonder what it would be like to allow myself to be stopped, and just listen to God, and allow God to speak into situations…it could be a personal challenge to allow that to happen.
The few times I have paused have occured either when outside in His creation, by the ocean, walking a trail, or looking over an incredible view or occasionally when I am running, my mind clears and I am able to listen, and everytime I do so, I see the world and my purpose slightly different and a little more clearly than before.
Comment by Brie March 25, 2009 @ 6:30 pmThe moments that stop me in my tracks usually occur at similar times to what Dr. McKenna was describing–those times when my mind is racing and my blood pressure is rising and all of a sudden I realize, “What am I doing?” It must be the Holy Spirit, cause the natural inclination at that point should be to continue to get increasingly anxious. But those moments are checkpoints and they help me step back and think about what really matters in life and whether or not the thing that I’m anxious about is worth being anxious about. Those moments bring perspective and bring opportunities to rethink my approach to whatever is making me anxious.
Sometimes I need to work moments like this into my schedule. Like Brie described, often if I take the time to set aside my work and anxiety and do something outside–look at the sky, watch the ocean, observe an animal–it stops me in my tracks. I realize that the world is so much bigger than this anxiety and I’m drawn back to the fact that my greatest calling is not my specific occupation but it’s the call to simply be in relationship with God. Sometimes it takes stopping in my tracks to remember that.
Comment by Charis Jones April 3, 2009 @ 1:40 amGood post Dr. McKenna.
I purposely try very hard to keep myself distracted. Either with work or with studies. Sometimes by buying things and shopping online. The ways I can distract myself are endless.
I used to think that church attendance wasn’t important. Well, that it wasn’t necessary. There was a long period after moving out on my own that I had no church to attend and to make it worse, I was not actively searching for one to attend. Since then I’ve been attending a church in Ballard at least as frequently as I can and I’ve realized that the things that stop me in my tracks don’t frequently happen during the week. They don’t even happen on Sunday during the sermon or the worship. All of that keeps me occupied and distracted. During communion, however, there isn’t an opportunity for distraction and I have to completely stop to reflect and repent. I think this happens because communion is an environment of honest reflection, because there is no opportunity to lie. Or at least, lying during repentance would be an empty practice.
I haven’t yet, but I want to replicate that experience of solemn reflection in honesty of the things that I am thankful for and the things that require repentance. It’s funny how you mentioned that thinking about stopping in your tracks is nothing at all like actually stopping.
You were right on about that.
Comment by Daniel H April 3, 2009 @ 9:25 pmI don’t think that there are specific triggers in my life that consistently cause me to “stop in my tracks”, but often situations arise that to highlight my need for perspective. A friend and I were recently discussing the Sabbath and what that is supposed to look like. In my own personal life I have found great value in allowing myself to be intentionally “stopped” each week. It has shown me humility (surprisingly the world goes on even when I stop) and highlighted how much I need to grow in truly trusting in God. Maybe it is part of my culture, or my upbringing, but there is a piece of me that believes “God helps those who help themselves” and therefore I try to make it on my own. Taking time to pause each week has pushed me out of a position of control and shown how easily God can direct my life and the events in my day when I let him.
Comment by rickardsk April 3, 2009 @ 10:37 pmWow. Perfect timing…if that wasn’t God speaking through you I don’t know what is.
I feel like I have been rushing rushing rushing everywhere. I never feel like I have time to just “stop.” I was clearing out my inbox just now, and found an email with the URL to this blog in it…I am so glad. I really needed that. It is such an important thing for us as followers of Christ to just stop and spend a few minutes a day with Him. Giving our day to Him in the full sense of the statement is one of the hardest things to do, but one of the best things you can do.
I used to have a prayer journal that I kept regularly, but I have not really picked it up in months. I guess it’s time I start getting back into talking to God everyday. He deserves at least that much.
Comment by Matt Johnston May 18, 2009 @ 6:24 am