The Secret Place – Abiding in the Midst

He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the LORD, He is my refuge and my fortress: my God; in him will I trust.

Psalm 91:1-2

Quiet time – the bain of my existence.  What I crave and require to stay in the Presence of the Lord but the biggest challenge to find in the midst of daily life.  Teaching, planning, prepping, housework, laundry, bills, phone calls and emails, even my blog. Who has time to be quiet?  What does quiet time even look like?  Even when one is physically quiet, how does one quiet their mind? To do lists, I forgot about, I must get to that.  A constant conversation in my brain that doesn’t like to be stilled, even in sleep.

So, quiet time.  I desire it, I must have it……

The secret is the Secret Place. And what exactly is the Secret Place?  It takes various forms: 

In it’s obvious form it involves making the time to be physically still and in the Presence of the Lord.  The more you practice the easier it becomes.  Your body learns to relax and rest and in time, your mind will quiet.  In the meantime, do it anyway.  10 minutes here, 15 minutes there.  In time you will find your mind can tolerate more quiet time.  It will begin to expect and thrive in quiet time. 

But I don’t have time, you say………

Remember the ways of the natural are not the ways of the supernatural.  In my experience I have found the Lord to be so faithful in redeeming the time that I give over to Him in faith.  As I dedicate time to Him, offer it up to Him as a form of worship, wait in His presence and listen for His voice, He expands my time.  I’m more productive, life moves more smoothly.  And I know that I know that I know that He literally expands my time.  The Lord is not bound by time –  “But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day [is] as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.” 2 Peter 3:8

In it’s less obvious form, the secret place involves the quieting and focusing of your mind – in the very midst of the daily activities that keep you occupied.

That constant awareness of the Presence of the Lord in your life……..such a comfort and peace and the one thing that can make all the noise stop, if only for a few moments. 

God moments.  Those moments that the Lord shows His love for you but directing your attention to something beautiful, blesses you in a million little ways – a kind comment, a lovely smile, the laugh of a child, kitty cat antics, a beautiful sunset, hummingbirds, a word of encouragement, an unexpected breeze in the heat. 

In the secret place you begin to attend to the small blessings, those things that in the daily rush of things you may be tempted to find insignificant.  When you dwell in the secret place you don’t just invite the Lord’s presence for those 15 minutes of quiet time, you invite His presence into the midst of the busyness of your life.  

This week the Lord showed me a secret place at work.  A place that I can take a few minutes during the day and enjoy the sun, heat and a nice breeze, the peace and quiet of the waterfront, the trees, a lovely path and a wooden bench.  What more could I ask for.  Two days I have rested in this secret place with the Lord and felt so refreshed to continue in the busyness of the day. 

And sitting on the wooden bench, looking up into the trees, I thought of Psalm 91 –  in that quiet God moment I breathed in the gift of stillness. As I looked up into the canopy of trees above me I knew that in that moment and for that time I was “abiding under the shadow of the Almighty”