Eight Pounds, an Outdoor Couch, and a Water Bottle

This season for us has been marked with growth and transition. I've been running on the statement "we are just in a really full season" for oh, about five months now.  Although it may be a very normal thing for some of you, it's a relatively new feeling for us. I suppose not the "fullness" but how "full" is defined currently and for us it has just been many moving parts and lots of moving boxes. Since the start of the New Year "Be Still" has been a reoccurring theme for me. And honestly, not by choice. It's been highlighted randomly and brought to my attention time and time again. It's really hilarious when I've stopped to think about it because aside from it being extremely difficult for my personality to be still we are in a season that doesn't naturally lend itself to much stillness. All the while,

I've longed. I've sang. I've painted. I've shared the words. BE STILL. But, I wasn't fighting to BE STILL. 

Fighting in it's definition; to strive vigorously and resolutely as in trying to overcome something.

I decided I needed to fight to be still, and I've made some progress over the past few months but thirteen days ago as we drove home with a new member of our family little did I know how the fullness of truly being still physically and in spirit would be found at 5:30 in the morning.

Let's be honest,  stumbling out the door at 5:30 to relive a whimpering puppy, isn't an ideal morning for me...or at least it wasn't 13 days ago. And, since we are on the subject of not ideal, adding an outdoor couch to the "purchase" list for our new home probably fell in that category for my husband. But, I am sure grateful for World Market Summer Sales and a sweet husband that smiles and chuckles under his breath as he says "alright....if it really is that good of a deal". 

We anticipated the responsibilities that come with a puppy and knew it would be a commitment to teamwork at not ideal times, but what I didn't anticipate was how eight pounds, dirty paws, and constant nibbles at my feet would bring me to a space of my sweetest moments in worship at times before the sun rises. Without coffee, I might add. That's where the water bottle comes in. I substituted a water bottle for morning coffee a few months ago, and it's been a STRUGGLE.

So this week, with a traveling husband I've been on all day pup duty. I remember thinking to myself...just sit down, on the outdoor couch you just had to have, and finish your water. I decided that night to create a playlist of 5 of my favorite worship songs to stir a little kindness in my grumpy, no coffee, it's still dark outside, must go back to bed selfish desires. But also to make myself sit until the songs are over and I've finished my water.

It's in that stillness...I've found the sweetest.

The sweetest moments of worship and acknowledgement for who GOD is. Psalm 46:10 says "Be Still, and know that I am God" and we see surrounding this verse in Psalm 46 glimpses of God's Character and who he is as he is described as a refuge, strength, and powerful. What a joy that we are able to read page after page in our Bible about who God is but we must remember to be diligent and make time to Be Still resting in a posture that allows us to KNOW, express, and establish who God is. 

As life's season's shift I desire for progress to lend to stillness becoming less of a fight and more of a natural posture towards my heavenly father. When I want to put my hands over my eyes in defeat and fatigue or feel like there are a few more spots in the planner that needs to be filled, I hope I'll often think back to eight pounds, an outdoor couch, and a water bottle to remember stillness and all it holds.