A few weeks ago there was a news story reporting a calf stuck on a frozen lake. There was no snow on the ice, which made the situation quite slippery. The calf being young and not having the strength needed kept slipping, leaving him floundering in the middle of the lake. The ice is not deep enough to walk on, so the rescuers had to come up with a plan that would save the calf, and yet not endanger their own lives. They lowered a helicopter near the calf, and gently blew the calf along the ice to a place where it could find firm ground and it’s own legs. Nearing shore it fell through the ice, but was able to find firm ground, regain it’s footing and move itself into the safety of the land.
Sometimes I feel like the calf, floundering around, attempting to gain my footing in a situation where I feel quite weak or unprepared. Stuck in a place or situation that I wasn’t expecting to be in. It can be a place of feeling completely overwhelmed. Bills due, the uncertainty of illness, unemployment, life’s pressures…
The anxiety could come from a multitude of things that reminds me of what it might feel like to be the calf on the ice. Experiencing a feeling of out of control, like I am spinning my wheels, going no where. What I usually do not notice in myself is an innate, natural ability to be calm, sit down and wait. I do not often remain present to the day, instead I often panic and struggle to find something to do to make the situation better – or at least make myself feel better in the midst of the situation.
Instead of panic, what would it be like to wait? To sit on the cold, hard place, a bit like the lake ice, and wait. The calf had no choice, struggle as it may, it could so no where. When we are in a time that feels uncertain, that feels chaotic, how might we wait for the gentle breeze (or strong wind) to blow? Scripture calls this the breath of life. The New Testament calls it the Spirit of God. How is the breath of the divine moving you?
Ralph Waldo Emerson speaks of “lowly listening.” Listening to the still, small voice within us – the one that knows which way to go. The small voice can be persistent, thankfully. I often find my self caught up in what distracts me, busyness, life, etc. If I can stop and listen, I can hear the low voice of my own voice, and of the divine. This voice does not seem to shout, but rather speak quietly, so it is needful to take time to stop and listen to it. The Christian psalms remind us to “be still and know that I am.”
It seems as if a key might be “be still.” In the being still – which is not part of our busy culture we can experience the breeze in our lives. Remaining busy we can be distracted by life’s pressures. However, if we stop and are attentive to what we experience, we can feel the breeze – we can “know” by experience that “I am.”
Here is what author C.S. Lewis says, “ That’s why the real problem of the Christian life comes when people don’t usually look for it. It comes the very moment you wake up each morning. All your wishes and hopes for the day rush at you like wild animals. And the first job each morning is just shoving them back; just listening to what other voice taking that other point of view, letting that other; stronger quieter life come flowing in. And so on, all day. But from these moments the new sort of life will be spreading through out system.”
Author John Ackerman suggests this exercise:
Stop – Relax, Breathe
Look – Open Your Mind
Are there blessings? Is there pain? What is God doing?
Listen – Open Your Heart
What is God saying? Will you receive grace?
Go – Open Your Will
Let go, let love come. How will you live?
The saving grace of the calf, was not the rescuers, at least not directly. It was the wind from the helicopter. It was a “new sort of life” that the rescuers heard by listening to this voice. While many people took part in the rescue, but it was the wind that blew the calf to safety. Listening brought life to the situation. It was the choice of the rescuers to step back and allow the wind to do what wind does that allowed the calf to arrive at a safe place.
Stop, look, listen and go. Some days it may feel as if the divine is right there with us – as a tangible force. Other days it may take time more attention, more intentionality, more time being quiet…sometimes it is sitting down, waiting, being quiet and letting the breeze blow us to the shore.
