Settle (Lent #5)

Settle in.  Settle down.  Get settled.  Don’t settle.

Funny how a word slips and slides through my brain without me really paying too much attention to it.  “Settle” is a word like that for me.  How many times have I heard and said all of those settle phrases?  Yet if you asked me to start listing all the words I know, I’m guessing it would be a very long time before I came up with “settle”.  Not because I know so many words, but because this is just not a word I think about.  It’s not a sexy word or a word with much pizzazz (now there’s a word!).

And maybe that’s why it is so good for me to think on it now in this season of reflection and preparation and repentance.

Settle.

I see me hurry into a room stirring up bits of dust.  They dance in a sunbeam, these little discarded bits of life.  Without the sun, I probably wouldn’t see them at all.

I blow and try to watch the effects my puff of breath will have on the little particles.  I like when they swirl in a crazy dance.  Eventually they begin again to fall back toward the earth, waiting for another rush of wind or movement that will start them dancing again.

I watch and think Lent began by reminding me I am dust and to dust I shall return.  I am ash.  Here one day and gone the next.

I too float crazily from time to time, but the state from which I emerged and the state to which I’m returning is that of settling dust.

Puts things in perspective, don’t you think?

Settle.

Settle.

Settle.

The dust settles on my window blinds.  The crazy world busily rushes on.  The dust settles.  It rests.  It stills.

There’s a peace in that.  A peace that I need to experience from time to time.

To learn to say “no”.

To prioritize.

To practice being fully present in the moment.

To commune with God.

To embrace silence.

To enjoy “enough” more than “more”.

Settle.

Settle.

Settle.

Settle in.  Settle down.  Get settled. And the next time you think or hear “don’t settle”, remember we are dust and it is good to rest and be still.  It’s the way of dust after all.

I’m glad that’s settled.

Life is better together,
Shawn