Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Calm (emotionally) (09/13/07)
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TITLE: Finding Simplicity | Previous Challenge Entry
By Kate Kolb
09/18/07 -
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Gathering the laundry in my wearied wicker basket, I chuckled to myself as it groaned beneath the weight of the remnants of just a few days’ dirty clothes. Jeans, t-shirts, dress shirts, soccer jerseys, athletic socks, and pajamas threatened to spill over onto my cluttered mudroom floor. My life in a basket, I mused to myself as I headed in the general direction of the sunroom to fold my findings.
Unfortunately, I failed to see the cat sleeping comfortably in the doorway as I passed from the mudroom into the kitchen. With one rather ungraceful plop, my laundry and I landed in a heap, but not before catching the edge of the kitchen table and spilling the contents of a nearly finished breakfast right on top of my clean laundry and a very disgruntled cat.
Resisting the urge to yell in frustration, I attempted to disengage myself from the mess and then just stood for a moment staring at the new workload on the floor. Before I had the chance to decide what I was going to do with it, the phone rang from the living room.
In an effort that any Olympian would surely be proud of I sprinted quickly across the kitchen and into the living room, quite decidedly stubbing my toe on the corner of the armoire as I grabbed the phone from its cradle.
Gasping from pain, I quickly said “Hello?†and waited for a response. But none came. The caller had apparently gotten tired of waiting for me to finish my impressive run, and hung up just as I picked up.
Hobbling back to the kitchen to my newly soiled pile of laundry, I glanced at a wall hanging a friend had given me for my birthday. It simply read, “God’s whispers can be heard, if only we stop to listen.â€
I’d passed by that wall hanging a thousand times a day in the months since receiving it, but I don’t think I ever really read it until this morning. In the midst of my chaos of the mundane tasks that needed to be done, I had completely forgotten the most important part of my day. The quiet, simple moments spent with my Savior that would bring peace and calm to my manufactured busyness.
With a resolute change to my step, I walked to the sun room, picked up my journal and sat quietly in my favorite corner chair. It felt good to be still. This must have been what the waters felt like after Christ had calmed the sea during that stormy passage so long ago. The reprieve from the constant break of waves and wild wind must have felt glorious as the sun beams hit the water on that beautiful morning.
I sat very still and enjoyed the quiet, carefully listening for the whispers that God sought to share with me. The laundry could wait. The dishes would eventually get cleaned. And even the cat would survive her traumatic morning experience. I had more important things to do right now.
I was finding simplicity.
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