What has love to do with living “amid the
noise and haste.”? How do the two
(three) interact? Do they produce each
other or stymie the development of each?
Just what is meant by the “noise and haste”? Why are we “amid” what we would be repulsed
by? What does the noise and haste
mask? Let us look into each of these and
understand what they have to say about each other.
One of the first things we do when we
enter this world is cry very loudly.
Mostly because someone has smacked our little bottoms. It has been warm and cuddly until that
moment. After the noise came the haste
as we were rushed over to an incubator and cleaned, weighed and wrapped into a
blanket. They also put a hat on our head. So, dressed we were returned to our mother
and or father. Then on to other
relatives who had been waiting to see the little one. People crying, laughing, sighing and
congratulating the new mom and dad on a job well done. That’s what the picture is supposed to look
like. However, there are more exceptions
to the standard listed above. For the
majority of people there is too much noise and haste in their lives. We are saturated with a world of noise and
haste. I have personally witnessed so
many parents and relatives saying: “They grow up so fast now a day.” And they do.
The speed at which our lives spin is unbelievable. We don’t have the time to think and all too
often just react and react and react.
Living our lives in a negative defensive manner doesn’t allow people to
have a leg up in controlling their world.
How can they?
Another word for “placidly” is
“peacefully” or “with peaceful patience.”
As in, “the water looks placid today.”
The wind has stilled, the current isn’t forced and the looks as if it
isn’t moving at all on the surface.
It’s, for the meantime, undisturbed and perhaps even has that glass-like
look reflecting whatever is beyond its banks.
Living our lives this way would at first seem all but probable. The alarm clock wakes us. The house noise as it gets moving raises to a
crescendo. Start the car isn’t that
noisy but it is not absent of the noise and haste as we gain momentum. Hit the freeway and break to a noisy 25 in a 60-mph
zone. Horns honking, radios blaring, and
angers rising. When we do get to the
designated office we are at the deadline, so we hurry into the building and
slam our time card in the slot beating the hour by seconds. Rushing to our office, cubicle, desk, or
other work place others are already there and working. You look around harried but at least you
weren’t the last to arrive. Another day
on the rat’s wheel. Where is the
placidity? Just moments ago, we were
asleep, dreaming and there was none of what is surrounding us now. Where has the noise and haste transported
us?
God wants us to have internal and
external peace in spite of the noise and haste.
He has designed us to be there, quiet in spirit and unhurried of mind
and body. What have we done? God hasn’t changed how he created us. The Bible is clear in many areas that we were
created for his pleasure. Have you felt
like that lately? God did not create us
to live with the noise and haste as our driving force. He designed us to be placid in the midst of
the noise and haste. Does this make
sense to you? Have you ever experienced
this in your life? No one is immune to the
world. We are all going to be affected
by its noise and haste. We have become
distracted by the noise and haste and with the expectation to be a part of the
noise and haste. How sad that our life
has been played out with nothing like the peace God had for us. It’s not too late to reach out and find what
we can of the world God wants for us.
It’s not too late for the peace that passes all understanding to
envelope the very fabric of our lives and the lives of our children.
The imperative in the opening line is to
“go” and to do so placidly despite the world around us. Here is the key. So, pay attention. Surrendered fully to His will and purpose; it
is he who lives in us and through us. It
is his peace that plays out in our lives as we give him the worries and
pressures that come with the fall of man.
We have a door that only we can open preventing us from entering “his
rest.” All pervasive rest. The door has one door knob and you have
control of that door knob. His
persistent knocking is inviting and, yet we perceive costly. What would it mean to have a life that is
placidly lived amongst the world of noise and haste? To all but a few the cost is more than they
are willing to pay, and the door isn’t opened to them. Others judge what they can handle or not
handle in life and only crack open the door long enough to allow God to take
care of the serious problems facing them.
Once dealt with, the door is once again soundly closed shutting God out
of our lives. There are a very few souls
who have tired of living their lives this way.
They have surrendered, died to self and allowed the door to remain
open. Jesus has placidly moved into
their lives and as the Scripture says, “it is no longer I who live; but rather
Jesus who lives within me.”
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not so dense to believe anyone’s life on
earth is perfect. If it were there would
have been no need for Christ to have come, lived, died and rose again. None whatsoever. It is purely by grace that we can enter the
presence of God. We have done all we
could do, can do or will do and we do not remain in the peace of God. We pick ourselves up and set aside Jesus with
little thought and less action. I’m
guilty. Are you? It’s important that we take responsibility
for our own actions. We can claim that
the devil did this to us. That’s a lie
by the way. We can claim that we had a
lapse in our memory. Another cunning lie
to try and get us off the hook of personal responsibility. We can point out how others have it worse, so
we must not be so bad. Deception is
around the corner of every trap. No, we
have failed. That’s it. Nothing less and nothing more. We choose to tell God that his Son’s death
wasn’t needed. We can do it on our
own.
No, we cannot.
What we can do is take life one day at a
time. Take life at one hour at a
time. Take life at one moment at a
time. Slow down. Look at life from God’s perspective. How do we gain God’s perspective? We read, study and immerse ourselves in the
Word and prayer. The conviction should,
if we are alive, tell us to open the door one final time. What would we do if we left EVERY choice to
Him? What would it look like if we
waited on God to direct our thoughts and actions through the Holy Spirit? Does anyone dare to live such a life? Not many.
So, there are few then that go, much less placidly, amidst the noise and
the haste. To feel good about ourselves
we place them up there with the saints.
An example for everyone to see but no one to follow. They were extraordinary men and women who God
had specifically blessed to live that holy life. They must have been blessed in their mother’s
womb to be so godly. Then this becomes
our excuse. We weren’t in that league of
humans. God certainly didn’t mean for
everyone to be a saint. He certainly
didn’t mean me. And so, we argue that
the peace doesn’t really apply to us.
Why try to have peace. Instead
surrender to the world around us.
Following God has too high of a cost.
Setting aside the world is a HUGE deal to us. And Satan makes it so easy for us. All we must do is open the door to him.
Certainly, this does not mean we,
Christians, are demon possessed. Does
it? No, the Christian cannot be
possessed by lesser gods and we are sealed in Christ when we first choose Him
as our savior. The Bible says that when
this has taken place “no one can snatch them from me.” We are his.
Living a greatly compromised life; but we are his. Christians can be oppressed. The world (remember the noise and haste) is
Satan’s kingdom. At least that’s what
the Bible says. We are merely strangers
passing through in the journey to reach our real home in Heaven. You wouldn’t know it looking at the
Christians (myself included) who take control of their own lives and future. Yet we do so with no peace.
Think, for instance, of someone who you
know and love. It can be a parent, a
child, a friend or even an enemy (we’re supposed to love our enemies). You have been around them and with them here,
there and everywhere doing all sorts of things.
One day, you are with them at lunch and they tell you they are color
blind. Shock. The thoughts and questions going through your
head are overwhelming. You struggle to
swallow your mouth full of fettuccini.
When you regain your composure; you stutter asking the first question:
“What did you say?” You know what they
have said but you cannot comprehend the impact of that information. You want to understand and to find out all
about the condition. You take the issue
with you back to work and then home where you wonder why you didn’t know all
along. You may do a quick search on the
internet and find out what there is to be read there. Then the question strikes you, “Why did
he/she not tell me that they were color blind?”
The issues that float off from there will take books to fill. Most of them would never be answered
anyway. Whose issue is this? How is their world different from mine? What does orange look like to them? How can I help? You will never see them the same as before
that moment. You will lose your
innocence of not knowing. Life was fine
before they told you. Now you search to
see how you will live your life with this new information.
Here is the point. We become accustomed to the information that enters
our world to the point we become immune to its effects. We adjust to the situation and go on with our
lives. We have the placidity restored
but at a much different level. The noise
and haste has grown, and you have become adjusted to that too. We now have a “new” normal that hinders our
sensitivity to the situation. So, it is
in this moment that we transfer this “thought” to our relationship with
God. He hasn’t changed or gone
anywhere. We have. That is precisely why we must become “new” creatures. The need to be “born again”. The old must pass away and the person embrace
the new. Letting go of one thing with
both hands to grab ahold of a new thing.
Like stepping from a dock into a bobbing boat there comes a time when
you must let go from one or the other.
You are in that middle ground where you have one foot and one hand on
the boat and the other two on the dock.
You can go nowhere if you don’t move one way or the other.
Letting go of the boat takes us back to
familiar ground and old information.
Comfort in what was. People are
calling you back as they don’t want you to leave them for the unknown
future. What to do? Everything about the world shouts continually
at us telling us to do everything to protect ourselves by doing our own
planning. Don’t let anything come
between your investments (money or people) and you (like God). What do you mean for me to do? Do you really mean I have to give up the
past? Yes, you (and I) need to let go of
the past. It serves us only to remind us
that the prison was good and predictable.
You cannot go back to Egypt.
Letting go of the dock is a much
different deal. For beginners it makes
more sense. Mostly because they lack the
ingrained worldly mindset. Thus, there
is less too perceivably lose in the letting go and more to gain in clinging to
the boat. Letting go of the noise and
haste has its positive side. Quiet. It’s quiet and we can relax. No more noise and no more haste. Did I mention no more paddles to direct where
we may drift? I guess I should have done
that. It’s kind of like learning that
the person we mentioned above is color blind.
Now that we have let go there is little we can do about it. I know we think of the options rather quickly
though. We could jump out of the boat
and swim to the dock or shore. Yes,
that’s an option. We could paddle with
our hands and take the boat back to the dock.
That one would work also. We
could wait and see what happens next.
This one only works if we are truly choosing to not live our lives but
rather let Jesus live them. He has the
paddles. Do you trust him? Do you have a choice? This is a matter of confidence. Confidence that God is REALLY in control and
wants the best for us…His best.
Go
is the first word of the Desiderata. Just
go… Nothing more and nothing less. Go…to Jesus.
Just go. The ramifications of the
action associated with that one word will transform your world. Noise and haste will quickly take second seat
if any seat at all in your life. Go
placidly…peacefully, quietly, at ease, with rest, and confidence. Just go.
Expect a few bonuses from the choice.
You will see that you are no longer a son or daughter of the world and
its laws no longer apply to you. The
laws of God are fulfilled in the coming, death and resurrection of Jesus. Your focus will be on what He wants in and
around you for your life in him. You
will be drawn by other motives and selfless actions. Others will take note of the changes. Their reactions may vary from apathy, to
disgust, to happiness and every other emotion in between. Will they want what you have? That is the most important question! Will they want Jesus? Will they want your freedom? Will they want hope in their lives? Let’s hope so. You merely need to help them open the door to
Jesus and life. We won’t get everyone to
change. The Bible says that only those
who are sealed in Christ will have eternal life. The rest will have eternal death. Which do you choose today?
“Go placidly amidst the noise and
haste…” Now that you have a new
understanding you still have to do something.
Make the choice or not. It’s your
last control issue.
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