Just a thought by coppi

Elijah Meets God at Horeb

“He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind, and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake, 12 and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. 13 When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”

(I Kings: 19: 11-13)

Silence alludes me.  I try.  I get up early daily.  I have plans to sit in my recliner and be still and allow silence to engulf me.  Maybe I am still for thirty seconds before my accumulated thoughts start drifting in. You have to do this – did you do that, and before long I am doing and not being.  My dear friend, Stan Carter, would get up at 4:00 A.M. daily,  grab a blanket, wrap it around him, head out to their screened-in-porch, close his eyes, and mediate in silence.  Whenever I visited him and his wife, I was so impressed with his consistency and desire to be in God’s presence, I would say to myself – “When I get home I am going to do this”.  Stan would say to me “Coppi, when you start the mornings being in the presence of God, you will be amazed how smoothly the day goes by”.  Stan is in heaven now, and I am still working on being still and silent in God’s presence.  Winston Churchill’s famous saying ““never give in, never give in, never, never, never, never—in nothing, great or small, large or petty—never give in……”.  Is my mantra as I preserve to be with God in silence.

I have done a painting expressing solidarity – a tree all alone on a mountain top reaching out to God in silence.  It’s done in pastels with many colors which are examples of the many ways we are pulled from being alone with God in silence.