Take time to ponder

It's been a couple weeks ago when Marge and I drove down to Sikeston, Missouri. About the only shopping we did was to buy me a cup of coffee (this was a given!), and Marge went in to a "have it all" store. I sat out in the car along with another guy about my age. Neither of us was "inclined" to shop. So we got to visiting about the weather and the virus and life in general. I enjoy visiting. We didn't talk long, but it was enjoyable.

This made me realize how little time we have spent just visiting. Normally, guys meet and talk about the weather and deer hunting or some gun or something we ate or something we saw and on and on. I enjoy just talking about coffee. It gets kind of touchy if we start talking politics, so I don't go there. We watch a couple of the cooking shows, so I enjoy talking cooking. It's fun finding a recipe that sounds good and having my wife give it a shot. Of course, I also like to talk gardening or just life in general.

But I also like to make a cup of coffee and watch the sun set or watch the steers or watch the birds. I enjoy the solitude and the quiet. This solitude and quiet are hard to come by in our world today. We are primed to be active with no down time. If we have a few seconds to spare, out comes our cellphone, and we are either calling someone or checking out Facebook or shopping or something. We simply don't have a quiet time to just think, if you will. It's like we are afraid to be quiet.

Before the virus, we went to a local restaurant, and our boys and their families and Marge and I were eating supper. A couple came in to eat and sat down a little ways from us. They had no more than sat down and out came their cellphones and each was engrossed in them. They might as well have came alone for no more share time that went on. They were totally engrossed in the phones.

If we don't have our cellphones in our hands and up by our ears, we are packing one of those 36- or 44-ounce cups of soda or whatever. And if we aren't doing either of these, then we have the radio or stereo up so loud it makes one vibrate when it sounds off a low note. We are programmed to be doing something or literally anything to keep our minds busy.

We watched "Conager" the other evening. Good Lamour movie starring Sam Elliott. It's about a drifter cowboy who finds notes attached to tumble weeds. In the end, the cowboy finds out who the woman is and in the final scene they walk off arm-in-arm. In one of the scenes, Conager is seen riding his horse with one of those wooden or metal water canteens tied to his saddle horn. If it was a modern day movie, he'd be holding the canteen sipping the water from it every few seconds. I've watched individuals walk down the street with the straw in their mouth sipping as they walked and a cellphone up by their ear. Are they that thirsty or is it a nervous action preventing a quiet time?

Back almost 55 years ago or a little more, Mom and Dad and Mick and I would go down to Lake McConahay and go fishing. Dad would put a good-sized lead sinker on the braided line along with a snelled No. 4 and a No. 6 hook. We'd put a couple minnows on the hooks and chuck them out in the water. We'd stand the poles up in pole holders and sit back and relax. Now we wait for the fish to come by and bite on one of the minnows. So we'd visit or nap or have a snack or just sit back and ponder whatever. Usually Mom brought some ice water along or some iced tea. Dad sometimes had some coffee in one of those glass thermoses that always seemed to be broken. Sometimes a fish would bite, and we'd have some action. But generally we sat and pondered.

I worked for a fair-sized ranch right after Marge and I got married. Two of the summer pastures had four sections in each pasture or about 2,500 acres in each pasture. So for several weeks each summer, I'd take an old tractor pulling a small wagon and drive the fences checking if they were OK. It was 8 miles around the fence line, so there was plenty of time to think or ponder. Every so often, there was a fence post to replace or a wire to mend. But most of the time the work didn't require total mental concentration, Plenty of time to ponder.

I like to spend some quiet time in the woods. Listening to the squirrels chatter at each other but also warning other squirrels there is danger present. It might be a coyote or a fox or a hawk or an owl or even me. I like to listen to the critters as they walk in the leaves. The temptation is to drag out the cellphone and get buried in Facebook or emails or texting or chatting with a friend. The key for me is to purposefully go to the woods to sit and ponder and listen.

I enjoy being able to ponder and listen. When I ponder, I like to think of people or happenings or just life in general. At times, I pray for friends or those in charge or those who are facing sickness. At times, I choose an old hymn and sing it in my mind. (Definitely not out loud,) My all-time favorite is "And Can It Be" by one of the Wesleys. At times, I think of Scripture. But when I get quiet and listen, it's more than just using my ears. It's quieting my spirit so I can hear that small whisper that's the Holy Spirit. It's like I can hear God speaking to me.

Honestly, it can be done by anyone, but it does take some practice. It takes discipline to lay aside the attention grabbers and quiet one's spirit. It takes a humble spirit to hear and listen. It takes courage and dedication to obey.