In our lives, we will experience many storms (trials or life challenges) which may occur at any given time – much like thunderstorms that can happen at any time of the day or night. How we choose to react to those storms is our choice.
During those times of storms, we can attempt to continue about our business as usual, or we can choose to do as my mother taught her four children to do when thunderstorms would arise – be still, be quiet, watch, and listen. She would gather us all together and have us sit quietly in the living room. She would also go around the house making sure that everything was unplugged, and afterward join us in the living room and wait until the storm had passed over. If a thunderstorm arose at night, she would light a candle or a hurricane lantern so that we did not have to sit in the dark. She would tell us that it was God’s work taking place, and we needed to be still, be quiet, watch and listen.
The storms that we face in our life are comparable to my mother’s astute observation of thunderstorms. When the storms of life begin to rage, it may be that God is trying to speak to us and do work in us. To hear His voice, and see those things which He wants to show us and teach us, we must shut out the distractions and diversions of the world, and focus our attention on Him. Just as my mother would make sure that she disconnected any non-essential things from their source of energy during a storm, when storm winds begin to blow in our life, we must learn to unplug from the world and be still, be quiet, watch, and listen. The light from the candle or the hurricane lantern that my mother lit is representative of the Light of Christ entering in and teaching us those things which he needs us to learn.
We can also usher in the peace and calmness often desired in life through listening to hymns. Monica Scott’s new video is evidence of this. Using the piano that once belonged to her grandmother who was the mother of 7 children and loved teaching piano lessons to the neighborhood children, Monica plays a beautiful arrangement of three hymns – “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”, “Lead Kindly Light”, and “I Need Thee Every Hour.”
At the beginning of the video, her videographer decided to include a real life mom moment to “show real life moments and the calm after the storm.” As she sits and plays the piano, she has her young son sitting on her lap which seems to cause an absolute peace and calmness to come over him. She shared the following to her social media page: “Music has been such a blessing in our home. As a full-time mother, motherhood can be very challenging and chaotic at times. I have been arranging hymns with my little ones playing around me—often in my lap— because of the calming influence these sacred hymns have in our hearts.”
Often I find that I get some of my best rest during thunderstorms. Perhaps the rumbling of the thunder combined with the gentle falling of the rain is God’s way of taking my mind off the cares of the day and gently rocking me to sleep so that He can speak to me without outside interruptions. Listening to hymns has a similar effect. As I listen to hymns, I can clear my mind of outside distractions and focus more on my Savior. Although Monica wrote this particular arrangement of hymns for Mother’s Day, you can listen to this exquisite arrangement at any time and feel the serenity that surrounds you.
I have personally learned to appreciate the storms in my life because it is during those times that I have come to unplug from the world and allow the Light of Christ to radiate more brightly. It is during the times of storms that I can still hear my dear mother say, “Be still, be quiet, watch, and listen.”
