Undivided

Last Sunday morning, I noticed myself slipping into a bad mood. I was scrolling through social media and every time I put my phone down, I picked it back up out of boredom to scroll some more. It wasn’t that I didn’t have anything to do, I had plenty to do, but I had no motivation to do it. My head was spinning and I was getting more and more agitated. I decided that I needed a reset after lunch so I plugged my almost dead (full disclosure!) phone in, grabbed my journal and a pen and told my husband I was going for a walk to the pond by our house.

As I approached the pond I noticed a beautiful white heron sitting on the railing of the bridge by the pond. Of course I didn’t have my phone to take a picture! I walked closer to it, thinking it would fly away, but it didn’t seem bothered by me. I got as close as I dared (about 8-10 feet from it) and just stood there watching it. It was beautiful and very unusual to be so close to a bird of that size. My mind started to settle down a little, as it always does when I am in nature, and I realized that God was going to have something to say to me.

There went my plans to do all of the talking.

I had planned to walk to the gazebo on the other side of the pond and write out my frustrations in my prayer journal, but I was so taken by this beautiful white heron that I just stood there in awe. The heron walked along the railing and I inched closer. It’s movements were slow and graceful, calculated and intentional. As it moved from the railing to the creek that feeds into the pond, I stood on the bridge to watch. The sun was blazing down on me and I contemplated heading for the gazebo, but I knew that God had other plans so I stayed put, waiting. I could feel His presence as I watched and waited for Him to reveal what He needed me to hear. I opened my journal and began to write about what I was seeing. As I marveled at the heron's patience and ability to stand perfectly still for so long, I had a moment of clarity. God was showing me what it looked like to be focused, still, and undivided.

My life had gotten too noisy and I was frustrated because of it. I typically don’t get on Facebook or Instagram during the week. Friday is my once a week social media catch up day, but I had let that go by the wayside and found myself addicted to scrolling again. My mind had become filled with the people, places, and events posted on my news feeds. I was taking in hundreds of things at a constant rate. We were not made for that sort of life.

After awhile I decided I would continue on my walk and I began to process what the Lord had whispered to me. It lined up nicely with what our pastor had said in church that morning, we were saved to serve. We were not saved to watch the world from behind our phone screens, we were created to reach out to it, to walk in it. To actively live, not passively watch. We cannot hear God and see the direction He is calling us if our eyes are constantly trained on something else. Psalm 119:37 says, "Turn my eyes away from looking at what is worthless; give me life in your ways."

Ironically, I watched the heron as it made its way into the pond, right in between two signs that said, “caution, wash out, no fishing.” It didn’t heed the warning, it did what it knew to do. It fished, regardless of what the world warned against. That’s what we are called to do! To fish, even where fishing is off limits. We are to go into the world and make disciples, not to watch passively and safely from the dock. Matthew 28:19 says, "Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." A command that requires courage, risk, and love.

I learned so much on the day that I had planned to do all the talking. I’m grateful that God rendered me silent and spoke what I needed to hear.