The world awakening to early morning light. Still . . . everything stilled. Not a breath of wind, the atmosphere is hushed. Only a few stray clouds balance overhead. Beauty arises with the dawn.
Shalom. Everything as it was intended to be.
Along a shoreline road, the expansive lake surface is smooth. From shore to shore, unbroken. Across the way, autumn colors reflect perfectly on the lake’s mirrored surface. I marvel at its beauty.
Stillness usually eludes me in this season of life, but today it beckons . . . and I pause. Look, and see through different lenses.
In the distance, I notice a small motorboat slicing the water, leaving a small wake breaking the surface. Over 7,000 acres of water, 13+ sq. miles, affected end to end by a small water craft.
Yet when the boat’s wake reaches the shorelines, it dissipates. Lake waters quickly revert to a glassy surface. Waters which produce large waves during storms and high winds, now quieted . . .
The author of Malachi in Christian Scriptures writes of a smelter, prover of silver who purifies precious metals through fire. Heated and stirred until liquid, impurities rise to the surface. They then are removed leaving pure silver which will reflect whatever is above it.
The Lord God is said to be a Refiner of souls, His Followers continually being purified as silver. Busyness, trials, stress, relational issues, financial woes, illness, hardships of every dimension of life stand ready to interrupt that process. Still the Lord refines. Impurities are separated. Dross removed. Our lives refined, purified.
Today a small watercraft interrupted the stillness of a large lake, yet the innate nature of the water is to return to Shalom. Not too many moments later, there was no evidence of its being there.
Today, tomorrow . . . things will ruffle the surface of our lives, some cutting to the core. Yet the Lord’s nature is to draw alongside, calm, restore, recreate Shalom in our souls.
Our Refiner is standing near. Ready to calm the surface of our lives and bring peace into the depths of our souls. Redeem and restore. Purify. Provide sustenance and strength for whatever journey comes our way.
The Lord, the Refiner of our souls stands ready to cause the surface waters of our lives to reflect not ourselves, but rather the goodness, mercy, compassion, grace and love of Jesus.
annebroaddus 
Yes yes our waves that seem huge at the moment of crisis pass in the expanse of time and in His hands and the lake is still. Often we forget the crisis altogether but are taken aback again when the next crisis tsunami hits us
‘Though we walk though valley of the shadow . . .’ and there are many shadow valleys in this life, the Lord proclaims He is ‘with us always, even unto the end of the world.’