Sam Rayburn, the legendary 25-term Representative from Texas lived most of his life in Bonham. A story is told that he often spent time in a rocker on his front porch facing the street. People waved as they strolled by. One particularly shy man asked Sam if he could join him on the porch to perhaps talk. Sam said “Sure,” and invited him to pull up another rocker. He then asked the man what he wanted to talk about and the man said, “I’m not sure, but for now can I just sit with you?”
Cammy and I talk about the regular need for “porch time” in our own lives – a place set apart to just sit in each other’s and God’s presence, even if we’re not sure what we want to talk about. For us, that ideally is on the porch of our house here or a cabin in Colorado. For others it is a porch on a beach house up on stilts facing the ocean. For most of us though it can only be those places occasionally. Fortunately for all of us, “porch time” can be any time and any place that we intentionally, regularly and rhythmically designate to be with God. We don’t even have to know what we want to talk about. Fortunately it is enough for God for us to simply want to sit with Him.
I pray you search and establish such a place nearby for yourself, perhaps starting this holiday weekend. Your soul and your life will be richer for the time spent … even if nothing is said. Breathe peace!
Connecting God and Grace to Self and Community,
