Be still. Walk humbly. Consider others more important than yourself. Be quick to listen. If we just set-a-spell with someone, we are doing all of these things. Now, I don't know how often you set-a-spell. Maybe this was the norm for you before all this social distancing and sheltering in place. I wish I could say it was for me. But I have discovered two things about it in the last week. Here they are:
I've learned I wish I had set-a-spell longer with the ones I can't visit now.You won't ever forget who used to ask you to come on in and set-a-spell. I know I won't. I wish I had gone by more often. I wish I had "set" longer. See, I've always been busy. Just goin' and goin' like something bad was gonna happen if I didn't have all this important stuff to do. Or maybe I just wasn't gonna feel like I was important enough if I didn't have a bunch of stuff to do. Regardless, there were people who wished I would just stop by and set-a-spell. Well, right now there are other people that I just want to see - to be in the same room with them and listen to their stories and laugh or cry or whatever. I am being forced to understand, because I don't have a choice now, that when I do have a choice, I need to choose better!! The world has literally shut down right before our very eyes, and while I don't want to sit still forever, I realize why the Bible tells us to do that very thing from time to time. I don't know the reason God has allowed this, but I do know He will use it for good. We have to take time to remember what matters...to differentiate what is good from what is best...to slow down talking to God and listen to Him.
I've learned that being forced to set-a-spell couldn't have come soon enough.To be honest, I needed this 30 years ago. Really, I did. I had a tea party with my 20 year old daughter today! Oh, we had tea parties when she was little. Lots of them. But then we both got busier and busier, and you know, life just happened, and no more tea parties. We talked and talked about the old days - days we only read about or heard tell of. We talked about the future - as in the next month, because we literally have no idea what it will look like. We talked with "old school" southern accents as we sipped our tea and pretended we had not a care in the world. It was really fun! Tomorrow we will all shelter in place, go back to school online, work from home, go for a grocery pick-up, check on loved ones, and at the end of the day - yep, you guessed it, we will set-a-spell. Pretty much everything else is out of our control right now. But what we do with each other might just change the rest of our lives.
"Be still and know that I am God." (Psalm 46:10) "Walk humbly with your God."(Micah 6:8) "Do nothing out of selfish ambition...but consider others better than yourselves."(Philippians 2:3) . "Be quick to listen and slow to speak."(James 1:19) So take time to listen. Slow down and understand. Set-a spell with your young 'uns. Set-a-spell with your mama 'n daddy or your gramma or with whomever you are sheltered in place! But, by all means, set-a-spell with your God.
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