Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Days 22 ~ A Gift Silent, Still and Strong

Can you believe it is the last full week of October?  It is...

And the mild weather we're enjoying this week will turn into highs into the 40s this weekend...

But that won't make me back down from wearing my flip flops...that takes snow!

So Day 22 ~ A Gift Silent, A Gift Still, and A Gift Strong



I am so grateful for the gift of silent solitude. 

I used to think myself "strange" because I do have a need for solitude...quiet time...time to remove myself from the clammer and yammer of our society.  It's not just something I like...I need it.

Jesus also found the need to be alone...alone in nature, alone with His Father, alone with His disciples.  And yet it was always a retreat from His ministry, His mission -- to be able to continue to do the work His Father game Him to do.

Such is the way with what I do...day in and day out...without the gift of silent solitude (especially spending it with Him) to which I can retreat ~ I would be faced with chronic burnout and be ineffective in all my efforts.




There were several nights when we were when on, vacation a strange thing would occur...the clouds would lower as we were high in the mountains...the stillness of the mist rolling in transformed the appearance and aviance of the landscape into a different kind of beautiful wonder...a site not seen where I live in Ohio.  What a gift!



And a gift strong ~ it can best be expressed by quoting Psalm 18:1-2:
I love you, God ~
   you make me strong.
God is bedrock under my feet.
   the castle in which I live,
   my rescuing knight.
My God ~ the high crag
   where I run for dear life,
   hiding behind the boulders,
   safe in the granite hideout.  (The Message)
 
If God is for me...who can ever be against me?


 
 
 

7 comments:

  1. I'm right there with you in needing the silent solitude. Several years ago I worried that I would not be able to handle a houseful of Fulmers when the entire family (less two grandsons and one granddaughter) when to the beach together for a week. I love my mother-in-law dearly, but she is a talker! And there are times when I need the quiet. As it turned out, we were in two different houses, so I had some space.

    how did you process that first photo? I love it!

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    1. Olivia: I processed it in Lightroom then moved it over to Photoshop...then put a brown and white gradient (radiate) adjustment layer in soft light blend mode. Add the naturally texture in Multiply. Then added the text.

      I love my colleagues at work...but we are in close quarters and have some really big personalities (and I'm not a shy little violet)...so I'm peopled out after giving out to families and all the noise in the office. So I have to have things low key and either solitary or just me and my husband a lot of the time when I'm home.

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  2. I can relate with the job issues and need for solitude! I hope to get out this weekend and explore some landscape to fill my need of finding inner peace.

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  3. Beautiful pictures and a beautiful message!

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  4. Denise so wonderful I certainly relate to solitude I spend a lot of time on my own during the day and I become so used to it that it is difficult sometimes to get reaquainted with the day to day noise....

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  5. hi denise...oh such lovely serene photos. I agree with you about solitude and the need for it. Beautiful post....

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  6. Denise, your images are so lovely; I was visiting Flickr, but wanted to see your post so clicked it on...am so glad I visited.

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