{thank you for your sweet words of encouragement for my time with the Military to meet with the Wounded Warriors Battalion from Fort Campbell, KY this weekend.  i truly felt your prayers for me and the men and women who came to the Spiritual Whitespace Retreat that I led in Nashville, Tennessee.  My heart is still processing the amazing, tectonic soul-changing experience (can you imagine?). i can’t wait to savor the stories together. my post is still brewing but I’ll be serving it up soon, sweet kindreds. for now, today’s post is my letter to you having returned to SiliconValley, California.}

You know that moment before the sun rises up and shines on your cheek?

When rays of light warm, like a slow tide, reach across the floor to touch the edge of your toes?

Is that when the quiet calls for you?

God is longing to meet you in the early tide of the morning.

But, maybe you are like me — more fresh after the morning rush has subsided with school, backpacks and drop offs having just left your fingertips.  And now there is a brood of chores and errands and today’s all huddling around you for attention.

Break away into the quiet, like a lover stealing a kiss in the street corner…

Go for a walk into the quiet…

Go for a hike onto a dirt trail if only for 20 minutes…

Look at that blade of grass — the way sun looks like honey shining through the space between the empty pods of seeds.

Or push away the voices and the noise by walking yourself to the kitchen, before the dishes have been gathered and reach for your teapot and fill it with water.  Hear the sound of the water as it swims into the tummy of your pot, and gather your pen and your journal instead.

Walk to a quiet, cool part of the house. Maybe it’s on the carpet.

Then, rest your back along the wall.

Stream some soul-soothing music and let your soul confide in the One —

who loves you,

knows you,

understands you,

and misses the ease of you being with you at rest.

Confide.

Confide.

Confide.

Or does the quiet comes to you when night falls?  When finally the skin along your arms feels it can rest, be tired and when it longs for the touch of a warm throw, to snuggle with a book.

Turn from the numbing light of the TV…

Turn away from what is easier… to do.. to distract… to not feel.

Turn away from surviving, coping, and being okay.

Be human.

For Jesus was human — even though He could have kept on only being Spirit forever into all eternity.

Then, we would have had to reach high, high up into the heavens — in order to imagine what it would one day feel like to have Him touch our cheek and soothe our weariness.

Instead, Jesus came — to be human and feel the pain of loneliness, the longing to be understand and the wound of being rejected and alone.

Jesus became human.

So, we can draw near and know He doesn’t just love us.

He calls us friends.

So choose the quiet.

It doesn’t have to be long.

It doesn’t even have to be anything regularly scheduled.

Those moments will come, if you listen to your soul in those quick glimpses of a moment.

As you come to a fork in the road in your day today and this week — between choosing the quiet or filling it up with doing, performing, pleasing, or disappearing — stop.

Choose what’s harder, but more soul-filling.

Choose to spend that time doing something no one would be able to point at it and say, “She is someone. She did something.”

And choose to be loved instead.

Let God love you.

Choose the quiet.

 “Draw near to God,
and he will draw near to you.”
James 4:8

~~~~~

What are your quiet places?

{quiet places} is today’s writing prompt for Whitespace Thursday. (Scroll down to find link up).  

Write a blog post in response today or anytime until next Thursday (I’ll serve up a fresh, new writing prompt).

Or choose your own whitespace writing prompt. Feed your soul. Enjoy alone time with God. Share your discoveries with us.

Share your reflections with us this week (click here to learn more).

Publish your blog post on any day that works for you.

Link up on Thursdays. Read the post before yours & meet a whitespace kindred with a comment.

Share. Words matter.  It’s the voice of our soul at rest.

(Psst… Yep, that’s the little (big) change for our Whitespace Thursdays! Instead of giving you the writing prompt a week earlier, I’m giving the writing prompts on our actual Thursday.  I hope it inspires you to make space for your soul. To write and breathe throughout the week.

Pull up a chair. Click to comment.  You make this place real.

~~~~~

A Soul Latte:  Stop & Savor This Song

As I began writing today’s reflection, a song started playing in my mind.  It led me to the sweetness of being in places where I most feel the nearness of  God. Stop and listen to this song (below).

May it touch a longing — a fresh reminder of missing the quiet — where there is no other, except you sharing yourself with Him.

As you reflect and words start to emerge, capture those beautiful thoughts in a blog post (or journal) and share it with us this week.

Today’s post is part of a special Book Launch Series {21 Days of Rest: Finding Spiritual Whitespace}.  Click here to read Day 1 and the entire series on rest.

Now It’s Your Turn

Whitespace Thursdays Link Up

Blog about your whitespace moments. 

Publish your post ANY DAY of the week.  

Link up on Thursday.
Visit & comment on the post before yours.

Use the Whitespace Thursday Linkup Badge.

Write what prompts your heart. Share your voice.

Today’s Writing Prompt:
{quite places}
or
share a whitespace moment this week 

Other writing prompts:

* If you’re reading the book, share your discoveries. How is the book speaking to you?

*  Share your whitespace moments.

– moments of beauty and rest
– feeding your soul
– your alone time with God

* Choose your own open writing prompt.  Be you.

Thank you for using #spiritualwhitespace to share your pictures on Instagram & Twitter!
It’s fun to see the moments that feed your soul this week!

{email subscribers, click here to link up your post in the Whitespace Linkup.}

Take The Journey of Rest With Me

Take the Finding Spiritual Whitespace journey to make space to rest.

Take the journey of self-discovery with Jesus with journaling prompts for individual or intimate group exploration. 

Purchase a copy of my memoir-driven guidebook for yourself and your friends.  Because rest isn’t a journey we need to take alone.  We need each other.

Let’s be kindreds. Let’s meet between the pages of Finding Spiritual Whitespace.