The last week has offered an endless stream of examples for me. Examples of moving forward.
My daughter and her husband ran a 9-mile race yesterday. They physically moved their bodies forward! And in another month, they’ll move away to begin the post-grad-real-life chapter of their story.
My youngest daughter and her husband closed on their first home together. It took them less than 24 hours to move forward into serious “demo” mode, ready to make changes that will make the home feel like theirs.
My husband and I attended the funeral of our next-door neighbor. He was only 51, and had incalculable health challenges to face in those 51 years. As I listened to his mother speak, I thought about him finally being able to move forward in the heavenly realms without the constant pain of this world.
And last night, I attended the Tabernacle Choir Concert with guest artist Sissel. I planned to attend alone, but at the last minute I had the pleasure of sitting with a good friend who just retired from singing with the choir. It was her first experience sitting in the audience. As we all can imagine, it must have been difficult for her not to be up on that stage where she had been for almost 20 years. But you know what? She was gracious. And accepting. What an example of moving forward.
The lyrics of one of the songs performed in the concert last night were (I’m paraphrasing, here) “In the midst of my confusion, in the time of desperate need, when I am thinking not too clearly, a gentle voice intercedes. Slow down. Slow down. Be still and wait on the Spirit of the Lord. In the time of tribulation, when I'm feeling so unsure, when things are pressing in about me, comes a gentle voice so still and pure. Slow down. Hear His voice, and know that He is God.”
In a week of moving forward from one chapter to the next, I was reminded to slow down and listen. It was a grand reminder—In all of our busy “moving forward,” if we will slow down, be still, and listen, we’ll be better able to pick up our pace and move forward again.
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