Peace and Contentment

Things are quiet here right now. I don't even hear cars driving past on the busy street in front of the house. The trees are filled with birds chirping and singing, the fans in the house are blowing, but it's peaceful.

I spent some time at Bell's Dell this week ... the incredible peace of that place overwhelms me. Right now it is at its most beautiful, deep greens of the trees are accented by the richness of the grass and the colors of the flora. I'm going back.

In fact, I'm going back on Tuesday for several days. Leaving everything and everyone here. I want to lose myself in the beauty of God's creation and see if I can find myself in the stillness. I want to see if I can hear Him speak to me through the peace and quiet of the day with no one around and no distractions to affect me. I yearn for this.

I hope to spend a lot of time up there this summer, and much as I'd love to share it with all of you, I'm going to just go by myself. Take my laptop, my Bible and my Kindle and see if there is anything there for me to discover.

I had thought about waiting for everything to be complete, the shower and new kitchen to be installed, internet and a new electrical box and a decision about continuing to use well water or city water, but I don't want to wait. I can make do with what is there and as we add things over the summer, it will only get better. I need to be ... there.

It's amazing to me how easy it is for me to be distracted by the world. Even the things that I love and adore: my family, spending time with my friends, leading worship, my animals ... all of that. But, as I re-enter the world, I also add time away from the quietness that I need to surround myself with so that I can pray and read and write. Everything distracts me from time spent alone with God.

One of the nicest things about Bell's Dell has always been the incredible lack of distraction. No one can get to you without a lot of effort - and I will be closing the gate on random neighbors popping in, there has never been a phone up there and cell reception is horrendous in the valley. While there is a television, you can only watch movies, absolutely no television reception there. The most comfortable place to sit is out on the screened in porch.

If I do any writing, I'll get into town in the evenings to find some Wifi so I can upload what I've done. If I don't get any done this week, I'm fine with that ... I just want to wait on God and see what it is that He would like to say to me without anything interrupting us.

By the way, this means I will return on Friday either completely bat-crazy from being by myself, or pretty quiet and contented. We'll see what happens! If it's the whole quiet thing ... I will be returning there as often as possible this summer. I love my home!