Quiet Time

Monday morning.

All is quiet here at 7:15 a.m., and I need to get moving in about 15 minutes. I have 10 clients to see today, so I need this "quiet time" to get focused on the day ahead. I am enjoying listening to the outdoor sounds as I think of each person I am going to encounter today at their session, and praying that I meet their needs for counsel and support and guidance and healing. I am humbled by my vocation, and am grateful that it was chosen for me by God.

I am also pondering what the new week will bring. I know I mentioned yesterday that it will be a busy one. But I wonder about so many things - will my family stay safe and healthy, will my youngest relish her last days of school and yet stay focused on her grades, will my oldest remember all the promises she made to us which have been broken and decide to keep them or rectify them because that is what she has always been taught to do, will I be able to find the right person to help at my office (I had so wanted TP to have that job), will I find the strength to continue letting go and letting God, and will I begin to feel better physically as this stress has really taken its' toll on my body? I pray that I follow God's will in my life this week, and not my own. And I pray for peace and comfort and strength so I can meet my family's and my clients' needs.

Five more minutes of silence before I hit the ground running. . .

"I am listening, Lord. I have finally banished all distractions and unwanted images. I have finally stopped fidgeting and wriggling, both symptoms of struggle. I am no longer staring at book titles or smears on window panes. Nor am I wrapped up in the torrents of words which too often consume my time with you - those lists of people whom I want to remember, things for which I am grateful, petitions for the suffering world. I am still, within and without.
"In this silence, in this stillness, I wait to hear your voice, Lord. I have told you so often about my desire to serve. I have offered you my gifts, time and time again, hoping you find them acceptable. I want to be commissioned for some glorious task, to pour myself out that others may come and find you. But it is always the same: the only words I hear are softer than the beat of my heart. "You are the gift," you say. "I want your love - nothing more." ~ Elizabeth-Anne Vanek