“House on a hill”

Melancholy is as certain in my life as breathing. Learning to trust that it won’t last forever and riding the wave with grace and faith instead of struggling against the feelings has been a lesson   that is a longtime coming. I’ve experienced years of God’s faithfulness to teach me and carry me through these melancholy storms. That faithfulness provides me with a deep sense of faith and rest when my heart wonders if the wind will ever stop. Still, I  find myself forgetting, fighting to reach the surface, gasping for breath, angry that I can’t put words to why I’m in the middle of another storm, what triggered it and when and how it will lift.

If only I could remember, more often, that the secret to a storm is to be still in the middle of it, not to wait for it to still.

Stillness isn’t popular.

Stillness isn’t comfortable.

Stillness isn’t a quick fix or something I can check off my to-do list.

But, only in stillness am I able to fight off the racing thoughts, fears, expectations and disappointments of my mind so that I can find some silence.

Silence isn’t popular.

Silence isn’t comfortable.

Silence isn’t a quick fix either.

But, only in silence can I find solitude…and, solitude is the secret.

Solitude allows my heart, my mind and my soul to meet again with my Savior without distractions or competing affections.  Without an agenda or complaint.  Simply present and available to meet with the only one who can lead me through any storm at any time with power and peace that passes all understanding.

I believe the Christian mystics of our past knew something that we desperately need to rediscover as individual followers of Christ and as His church as a whole.  That faith is fueled by a relationship built in solitude and silence, not by a list of do’s and don’ts.

It’s the difference between overcoming in this life and simply enduring. It’s the power to find healing and growth for my hurts and weaknesses.  It’s the peace that transcends the storm. It’s meeting with my God who has been waiting all along for me to stop and sit with him. To open the door to my house and  let him in.

Here’s an interesting fact – Revelation 3:20 was written to believers. Specifically, the church in Laodicea. “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” Jesus wants to spend time with his people. To eat with them. To talk with them.  To share his heart with them. To love them and to be loved.  He knows that the solution to a lukewarm life, to melancholy, to fears, to apathy and aimlessness is to spend time with him.  To be with him.  Not to “do” anything but to be changed in his presence. To refuse the hurry, and busyness of life that the enemy has used to distract and to choose the quiet and peace of solitude with our Father.

That’s life. Abundant life. And it’s possible to find even in the middle of a storm.

IF I can just remember, and choose, to be still and know that he is God.

(Song inspiration: House on a Hill by Amanda Lindsey Cook)