It’s In The Stillness – Mark Fowler

It’s In The Stillness

Mark Fowler

Magill, SA

It’s funny
how when I lose something I need
                                 I usually panic and frantically seek
but
in a moment of frustration or reflection,
a small picture comes to me in my mind
                                        and I see the lost article.

Finding God’s a bit like that.
We all need God
but
we lose him along the way and we don’t know where we put him.

A secret I’ve found, is in the stillness,
                           that golden place where time is postponed
                                      and for a moment you find God;
or
more precisely you find that God wasn’t lost, just not noticed.

In the stillness of a prayer,
                        not in a shopping list of wants or a litany of old practices
                                 and certainly not in a busy mind mulling over a worrisome day,
but
in a quiet moment, where listening is as silent as an infant’s heartbeat
                                         God reveals a word, a memory,
a feeling,
a feeling so deep, it sings for joy at the very centre of your soul.

In the stillness,
you can see what you missed on a million occasions of watching.
Like
the gnarly patterns in the bark of a pepper tree, or the serene flight of a soaring hawk,
or perhaps the love of an old man for his partner as they quietly sit in the sun.
And
You can see the hand of creation that allowed all these miracles to happen.

And in the stillness,
You can feel another’s pain, empathise with the world of others beyond your experience.
And you can know love, and know God right there.

Bio: Mark says that although this speaks of God specifically, it’s theme of finding spiritual succour in the stillness and small things of life is universal.