I remember being on Match.com a long time ago and not being very successful meeting women. I got so frustrated with my usual approach that I decided to try it with honesty but the complete opposite way I had been doing. It was “Opposite George Day”–like that episode of Seinfeld. To intrigue someone who I liked I wrote, “I live my life in quietness, gentleness, humility and meekness, if that gives you a zing, hit me up!” Strangely, still neither she nor any other women expressed any interest!

My inability to impress women with it aside, as a writer and a believer I have had to learn to slow down and listen. But for everyone, it is important to take time to be quiet and still and to listen. I recognize that this virus is real and deadly and (please!) I am not belittling anyone’s tragedy if you have lost someone to it. However for us in quarantine, I do believe that we are being forced to stop and reflect and be quiet before ourselves and our families and the Lord and listen.

Jesus spent so much alone with God and of course, there are whole communities of people who are dedicated to living contemplative lives, like monks. Martin Luther King Jr. spent his time in the Birmingham jail (In Birmingham, Alabama, in the spring of 1963) writing his famous letter, fasting, praying and contemplating his crusade (https://www.al.com/living/2015/01/selma_cellmate_of_the_rev_mart.html). He was definitely forced to slow down and think and listen to that still, small voice. I believe he needed this to accomplish what he did. Even Billy Joel said in his song Summer Highland Falls: I believe there is a time for meditation in cathedrals of our own!

So I encourage you to do that. I encourage you to stop “kicking against the goads” (I dont know what a goad is but its in Acts 26:14) of beating yourself up regarding getting back to, “normal life” during this time and take some time and listen to yourself and your family and most importantly to what the Lord is trying to tell you!

Psalm 46:10 “Be still, and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”

—————————————————W.