Be Still

It's been a busy week. With lots going on both physically and in my head. This morning at church we were challenged to think about the voices that we listen to.

It's something that I was thinking about earlier this week too, and thinking back to a poem I wrote when Andy Hunter was just starting the Presence Project. One of the early chapters was based on Psalm 46 v10, "Be still and know that I am God".  And I wrote my own poetic reflection in response to his music and this verse.

I have always loved lighthouses - the image of the light flashing in the dark to show us the way and stop us running into danger. But lighthouses are a little more complex than a just a flashing light. Every individual lighthouse emits a distinctive series of flashes known as its characteristic. Ships at sea can time the intervals between flashes in order to identify which lighthouse they're looking at. It's not just a warning message, it's a location message, and with this location information any lost ships can then determine where they are too.

I think that it's sometimes the same with us and God. Knowing where he is helps us to determine where we are... but we have to stop for long enough to look at him and decipher his message, the characteristic he's showing us.

The lighhouse near where I live, Mumbles' lighthouse, has a characteristic of 4 white flashes and a pause every 20 seconds. This poem ends with the message I hear every time I look at that lighthouse flashing in the darkness.



So many voices crowding in
   So many voices
voices crowding in
           crowding voices
   so many...

When the chaotic voices crowding in
drown out the silent whisper
I need to hear,
I grab my bike and head to the shore.
There the untamed waves come crashing.
Head down,
and pedalling hard,
I can feel the power of the storm -
Within.

Until I pause.
Stop.
Look up,
look out
at the vastness stretching to the sky.
Insignificance makes me feel safe
There is something greater than I.

And piercing through the darkness
I see the unmoving beacon
Flashing out its own unique sequence.
Its message to the lost
and seeking.
Calling “look this way...
Know – I – am – God. Stop.
Know – I – am – God. Stop.
Know – I – am – God.”