A little shrine of quietness

Time for a longer entry today. 

Following the departure of 3 housemates, January this year found me living in a big four bedroom house all on my own. Far from feeling abandoned, however, I have relished the solitude! It's great to be able to come home and hear yourself think. It's also much easier to focus on God in the absence of noise and distraction. 

Today, after an all-too-short four-hour night's sleep, the operating system of my consciousness required a more protracted booting time. It took much longer to realise who and where I was, in other words, and I lethargically prepared my disheveled facade for the day ahead. Soon after embarking on the short journey to work, I noticed the traffic on Dalton road was slower than usual. My initial reaction was frustration. Admittedly my threshold for road-induced vexation is usually significantly diminished during the morning hours, and the self-inflicted sleep deprivation didn't help either. But discontent turned quickly to confusion as I approached the Western Ring Road underpass. All the traffic lights were out and it occurred to me that I had best proceed with caution. 

I came to a stop and surveyed the chaotic scene. Lines of vehicles were coming from all angles with nothing to govern who should stop and who should go. Horns sounded as some drivers impatiently and dangerously attempted to weave a right-hand turn through oncoming traffic. Other folk, obviously in two minds, changed their course without indication. To my left brakes squealed as a collision was narrowly avoided. To my right, wheels spun in frustration as someone finally got their turn. Fearing for my life, I forced myself to pause,  and collected my thoughts. It was far too much anarchy for such an early hour! After a while I finally had my chance to move on, but not before absorbing the abuse from the bloke behind me, who had obviously expected me to simply close my eyes and plant my foot!

The parking area behind the pharmacy where I work was in similar disarray. It's a 200 metre stretch of car spaces in between the rear of our shop and the local school oval on the other side. Parents, whom I contend are the worst drivers of all, drop their kids off there to avoid the congestion in front of the school. They randomly zoomed into and reversed out of car spaces, changed direction at random without indicating, and tooted away on their horns. Small and vulnerable children running energetically back and forth across the road were met with oblivion by mums and dads in SUV's obviously late for work. I settled for an outlying parking spot, and trudged the remaining distance on foot. I had made it to work intact!

Somnolence plagued the entire day, reducing my ability to cope with the demands of making important decisions regarding people's health. Difficult, multiple and simultaneous tasks demanded my attention for the whole shift. Doctors with illegible handwriting. Dodgy folk shopping around for Sudafed to manufacture illicit amphetamines. New staff members who couldn't tell a Predmix from a bread mix, or an Amoxil from a Coloxyl! Whilst constant interruption is usually tolerable to me, I kinda struggled today. There was only so much I could endure before I began to yearn for the peace and quietness of home. 

Once I finally made it back to the house I realised just how precious it is to just spend time in silence. To be still and know He is God. For me (an ISFJ for you wacky Myers-Briggs enthusiasts out there) it was replenishing and energizing. I was reminded of an old hymn (which my former Songster brigade butchered brutally one time) and it blessed me to read these words:

’Mid all the traffic of the ways, 

Turmoils without, within, 

Make in my heart a quiet place, 

And come and dwell therein.

A little shrine of quietness, 

All sacred to Thyself, 

Where Thou shalt all my soul possess, 

And I may find myself.

A little shelter from life’s stress, 

Where I may lay me prone, 

And bare my soul in loneliness, 

And know as I am known.

A little place of mystic grace, 

Of self and sin swept bare, 

Where I may look upon Thy face, 

And talk with Thee in prayer.

Cheers - Nath