A QUIET PLACE

There are some times I think when this is far more important in life than with others. I know in my situation the last few months have truly strained my capacity to find any kind of quiet place.

Normally, I have enjoyed certain times when life afforded me a degree of quiet. I work full time on the weekends where I spend most of the time in an office alone. But currently our company is going through a major remodeling and as a result my weekend is constantly being intruded upon by workers and upper management checking their work. So my solitude is gone for a while.

At home I also would have periods of quiet, but since we moved into a house that wasn't quite finished the last few weeks have also been influenced by numerous people coming and going. Plus with all the details to finalize I have often spent hours having to do chores and constant errands in my off time. So quiet is one thing that definitely hasn't been apart of the experience.

It is interesting how the lack of such quiet is felt the most when it is lost. I can even remember back to the times during the week when I had time to sneak away for an hour or two and sit somewhere to write. Those times are also not part of my life at the moment.

I have tried to appreciate any spiritual lesson I have learned in the process. The first thing I have come to learn is that I'm not one who loves crowds. Which means I'm never going to end up in a position of ministering to others in a way that would involve dealing with lots of people on a personal level.

The second thing I have come to appreciate is that I not one who enjoys having lots of possessions. Moving into a house meant we had to box up ten years of stuff at our apartment. A month later we are still unpacking. Most of the things we have aren't expensive and a lot of them are things that my son and wife love to collect. So they take up a lot of space, but are necessarily valuable.

I wouldn't deprive my family of their right to their things, but I have to be honest it just wears me out having to lug stuff around and dealing with all the clutter at times. Which is why I have one room in our house where I do my writing that is separate from the clutter. I have a couple of pictures on the walls, a desk and chair, a small bed, computer and television. But outside of those things, the room is fairly simple compared to the rest of the house. For me it affords the one place of refuge for quiet in a place way to filled with chaos.

And in that quiet, God often touches my thoughts and that will carry into other parts of my life. Enough that I can find the strength to endure the clatter a little while longer. It does make me wonder about heaven at times. A silly little thought about the idea of mansions. I hope if there are mansions it means lots of closets since with eternity to collect things you will no doubt need that much storage space. Just a little humor to end this posting.