If you head East, from Mount Gilead, NC for about five hours on Hwy 64, it won't be long before you find your way to The Pocosin Wildlife Refuge. It's a beautiful preserved sanctuary, which isn't too far from Plymouth, NC if you're somebody who likes to look at maps. This Plymouth, however is not to be confused with the Plymouth in Massachusetts where the Pilgrims landed in 1620, which you probably know. Others of us need to go back to our fifth grade history class. I really wish it was against the law for there to be two places with the same name.
Fortunately, if you happen to have a dear spouse who is patient about such things, and can drive you to a lake located in the Pocosin Wild Refuge where hundreds of Tundra Swan are happily soaking their feet before sunrise, every miscalculation you ever had about where the Pilgrims landed, falls away. For from the moment you see and hear these gorgeous creatures, you're transported from 2024, and everything that comes with it, to the place of "Do Nothing But Be Still." You know that only a little while ago, you were making plans, reading a book, paying bills, sending emails, putting things in place, creating something new, solving a problem, holding who knows how many worries and had so many things you were wanting to do. But now, you can't hold anything but the beauty and noise all around you.
In fact, the noise alone, from so many birds chatting away, stops and startles you. I guess if I had just flown 4000 miles from the Arctic tundra and knew I had to make that same trip back on nothing but my own wings, I'd have something to say about it as well. But such a sight and sound stops you just the same. It all causes you to put down whatever has your heart and mind tied up in a frenetic, worrisome mess and do nothing but be still. Or at least it did me.
I'm not sure why it takes such a glorious gift to remind us of what we already know. We're not meant to live life as if there's no stop. The stops are what make the go keep going. We know this. We know this. And yet, the pull to do otherwise seems oh so strong. I love how Jesus even rebuked the wind and the sea to "be still" as if they too, needed to stop from their many watery, windy labors. ("And Jesus awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, 'Peace! Be still!' And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.'" Mark 4:39) I realize Jesus' action brought great comfort to the disciples who were fearing a horrendous storm, but maybe His action was for the wind and sea as well. Maybe these gifts of nature were needing a nudge toward calm as we all do from time to time.
This is what I know and I bet you do too. When I do let the calm have its way, when I do either intentionally or unintentionally stop, and do nothing but be still, all that is awaiting my attention and care is so much better served and cared for. And the thing is, the stop and still don't have to be long. Ten minutes on your porch with a cup of coffee, a quiet walk around your yard to enjoy the flowers, some quiet minutes in your car before going inside, sitting outside drinking in the night sky, a stroll in the park, a bike ride, letting scripture offer you God's comfort and care, resting in a favorite chair, a nap, or allowing the wonder of tundra swans and anything else in creation to catch you by surprise... they can all offer us the chance to do nothing but be still and well... know that God is perhaps a little closer than we realized and much nearer than we often imagine or believe.
It's believed that Lewis and Clark provided us with the first description of tundra swans or "whistling swans" as they came to call them. During their expedition to the West they described seeing and hearing birds with a whistle-like call when they flapped their wings.
I share this because I want you to know that History and me are finding ways to make up and that I like the idea of these two adventurers being stopped and startled by the same birds I was. I like learning again that God is always trying to catch our attention, every minute of every day. I like learning that God has been stopping and startling people with wonder and beauty for a very long time and will not stop doing so ever. I like that God invites, nudges, compels, pleas and begs us, from time to time, to do nothing but be still. We only have to have the ears and eyes to hear and see. And on those days when we cannot either hear or see, let us pray for the wonder and beauty of God's creation to show up and stop us in our place. For it will surely be a stop and calm that will replenish our go to keep going. It will help us to do nothing but be still so that we may know God is right here, and has been for a very long time.
May God's gracious wonder and beauty stop and startle you today in life-giving ways.
Restful Blessings Friends,
Leslee
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