Posts tagged vacation
Lake lessons

Last week I went to an area of Spain that I really love: Lagunas de la Ruidera, a national park area out in the middle of farmland in central Spain. It’s a collection of tiny lakes that stretch out over several miles...and nothing else. I actually love this area for that reason—it’s empty.  Peaceful. Quiet.   On my last day there I remembered to get a few rocks for my collection: I have some stones from most of my travels around Spain. In the clear water, I searched for some nice rocks, but I was disappointed to discover that all the rocks were ugly.  They were sharp and misshapen, instead of rounded and polished by the water, as I expected. I was sure with so much water, there would have to be more attractive rocks SOMEWHERE. The shoreline and the shallows of the lake were nothing BUT rocks.   But then it hit me; I realized why all the rocks were ugly. 



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Be Still and Know

“Be still, and know that I am God,” Psalm 46:10 tells us.  I’ve been reflecting on that, because it’s so easy to *be still* here in a place like this, where I’ve purposefully chosen to get away from everything for a while and just be still.  I’m usually so busy that I literally have to schedule these breaks on my calendar and on everyone else’s calendars so that I could have time away to be still. The question is how can I be still in Madrid? How do I achieve stillness in His presence while maintaining office hours and ministry schedules?  I’m a driven person by nature, so I’ve had to learn how to balance the pouring-out-part of ministry and the being-still-part of abiding with God.

I’ve found four ways to keep still, no matter how hectic life gets.  

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