Pilgrim Journeys - Chapter 2: Peaceful Streams

My friend could tell that something wasn't right. I had that look in my eyes, the look of uncertainty. My mind was racing as fast as my heart, and I couldn't do anything to stop it. A good friend of mine in IBOLC (Infantry Basic Officer Leadership Course), noticed something was off in me, and made his way over.

He asked, "What's going on?"

I shared with him that I was anxious about the test we just took, and I was pretty confident I failed it.

He then asked, "Have you given it to God yet?"

I gave the ready Christian response, "Well sure yeah, I prayed about it."

He asked me again, a little slower this time, "Have you given it to God yet?"

He then proceeded to lead me in a prayer helping me hand my anxious thoughts to the God who is willing to take them. After leading me in the prayer, he kindly shared with me his secret place. He had a refuge he went to in his mind whenever anxious thoughts arose, and Jesus was always there too, sitting with him. He could see what he was wearing, he could feel the grass beneath his feet, and he could hear what Jesus was saying to him. With this practice, he was able to slow down his thoughts, and simply sit in that place with Jesus. As someone who tends to let his anxious thoughts run rampant, I took this practice to heart. My friend asked me to think of a place in my past where I was completely at peace.

I knew immediately where to go and began to imagine how the trail curved with the lakeside, and how my feet were dangling ten feet over the water on one of the lake's many boulders. The shirt on my back reflected the setting sun's light, and my shorts did the opposite. My skin shows the signs of a Florida summer as does the hair on my arms. With a slight hesitation, I plunged into the lake's chilling water. Instantly, I lost my breath, but I am somehow more alive than I was before. I climb out, and sit back on the boulder's edge, letting what's left of the sun heat my chest like a winter home's hearth, then I listen for God's voice. This is the place I am learning to sit with Jesus when life feels like the opposite.

In order to keep this image on speed dial throughout the day, God is also teaching me to combine this idea with a practice known as "Breath Prayer". Pastor and Spiritual Director, Adele Ahlberg Calhoun, defines this Christian practice as, "A form of contemplative prayer linked to the rhythms of breathing: (1) breathe in, calling on a biblical name or image of God, and (2) breathe out a simple God-given desire." The way I do this for myself is by recalling Psalm 23:2 and combining it with the image described above. I breathe in, "He leads me". I breathe out, "Beside peaceful streams." I understand lakes aren't streams, but it's the same idea. I'm learning to go about my day with this practice ready to go on reflex. Understanding 1 Peter 5:7, which says, "Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.", I can always immediately run to Jesus with this prayer on my lips knowing that He will sit with me at the lake till my worries are resolved.

In the chaos of life, we don't always have time to take a long weekend retreat like we might need or even whip out our Bibles to read a good verse to pump ourselves up. What we always have time to do however, is to take five seconds to slow down, and sit with Jesus, wherever that might be for you. If you take the time to really stop in your tracks, and hand your cares over to Jesus, you will find that He is more than willing to take them.