This Thanksgiving – I know Thanksgiving was two days ago, I had pie to eat, okay?
This Thanksgiving I am grateful for nothing. Yes, that’s right. I am grateful for nothing.
This past summer my life and my family’s life was stressful. I was having a hard time praying- couldn’t concentrate, couldn’t focus. If I am honest, I really didn’t even want to pray. I didn’t have the mental and emotional energy. What I ended up doing was taking my morning coffee, sitting in the screen porch with Peppy the cat and watching the sun come up and listening to the birds. That’s it. I just sat. I just sat there drinking coffee and listening to birds.
No list making.
No problem solving.
No worrying.
No planing.
No nothing. Sometimes I had a book on my lap so it looked like I was doing something. But really I was just sitting there.
I wasn’t alone. Peppy the cat was there. And God was there. But we didn’t need to talk. So there was no talking, and no listening. I simple needed to be. God understands that. And so that is what we did. God, Peppy and I just sat. Nothing dramatic happened. My problems didn’t disappear. No insights. No epiphanies. I just sat and drank coffee with God and Peppy the cat. Sitting for a bit each day was sufficient.
In retrospect, sitting with God and Peppy the cat was exactly what I needed to do. What I needed to do was nothing. It is a minor miracle that I allowed myself to do nothing. I’m better at doing, at least I am more comfortable doing. Slowly, quietly, as summer turned into fall, I had a little something to say. Slowly, quietly, I was able to listen. It took me until October to realize what happened this summer when nothing was happening.
Nothing happened in the early morning hours this summer. I simply had the space to be. Not do. Just be. And so this Thanksgiving, I am grateful for nothing.
Conversation in Faith Weblog 
You just rocked my world – in a good way.
Thank God for “nothing.”
I was just talking with a friend of mine earlier this week on the importance of being – just being and not doing.
Oscar Wilde had a popular play called THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST. But that suggests stress and doing. I think Paul refers to that as busy-bodies (I’ll have to check my references on that one). And isn’t there just too much of that these days. That time of just “being” for us is a time to be grounded in the source of all existence. God, the very breath of life – sometimes breathing is all we need to do. I also love that verse about putting on the armor of God – Paul ends it by saying, “and after you have done everything to stand.” Just “stand” or another way of saying it might be – Just BE. Peace my friend. Hope you are having a pleasant, peaceful, shopping-free weekend. 🙂
Being isn’t an “american value” is it? Even when we meet people we ask “what do you do?”. It’s taking a life time ( as it is supposed to- I guess) to relax into the loving presence of God. A peaceful, shopping-free weekend to you to! Thanks as always for your comments.
Outstanding … you had me going as I was reading with a frown … which ended in a smile!
Fooled you with the title?? Thanks for reading and commenting.