Whole and Well in The Quiet

Choon Yuen is in transition work-wise and one of our Quiet Hour (QH) facilitators.

I joined Quiet Hour (QH) as I realised that I needed some external accountability to help me with my rhythm in reading the Bible. This is similar to how I previously paid for organised race events so that I would be motivated to begin my training runs in preparation for the 10km or marathon that I had signed up for.

There are many bible study programs available but I was not drawn to a study approach (with my mind) as I felt my greater need was to deepen my ability to connect with God and to experience His truth more with my heart (emotion and experience). We use Lectio Divina (Divine Reading), where a chosen Scripture passage is read aloud followed by times of silence and contemplative reflection with God. One can choose to share with the group according to our comfort level. This is repeated three times in the hour and allows the Scripture to be slowly savoured!

In just one hour, I get to hear the Word of God and attempt to taste and see how that Word gives life to me and the other sojourners who come that day. God is the shepherd who speaks and we, his sheep, practise listening to Him together. We exchange our ‘baa-ings’ and encourage one another as we chew the cud.

There is no need for prior preparation. I only need to commit to being present virtually for the hour and to be fully present with my focus, listening to God, and contributing to the sharing.

Sometimes the Scriptures chosen for that day are passages I may not choose to read in my solitude time with God, yet there are occasions when the chosen Scriptures are the same words that I have heard in a sermon or which I have recently read. I am humbled as I witness God’s fingerprints and careful concern for my life.

During the first QH this year, we looked at John 15, a popular passage for many Christians where Jesus likened our relationship with Him to fruit on a vine - the branches only draw down on the life-giving sap as it stays attached to the vine. The life of faith is about being in union with God so that we bear fruit and are empowered to have joy through life’s circumstances. It aligned with the theme of ‘Abide’ that my church had chosen.

Growth in wholeness and wellness isn’t a shot in the arm. Rather, it is like taking in good nourishment and dealing with areas of disease, and it takes time. Likewise, the pace and grace I taste during QH flows into my life as I continue to chew on the Word so that I begin to experience it and live it out in my life.

I am so thankful that from the start of the year, this call to abide - to return to this awareness and rhythm - carried me through a major change in my life. For many days and hours, I always come to God to pray, asking for His presence and being in union with Jesus to have the peace, confidence, and wisdom such that I could be responsible to my team and ensure that my handover would be well done.

I finally stopped work in May and providentially the TRL theme for May-June was Rest. This was the time when I began to facilitate QH, and I chose a Scripture passage that God had highlighted to me at the start of the year, taken from the book of Exodus - a record of a people making a decisive change that required them to stay close to God as He unfolded their future. It was a Scripture that reinforced my journey and something that I needed to anchor my focus during the period of rest.

Sitting and soaking in God’s Word cleanses us too, which is another aspect of growing in wholeness and wellness.

Each time, we rediscover or get reminded of some aspect of God’s character: His goodness; His faithfulness; His promises of provision or strength or protection; His love that always invites us to come home; His gracious invitation to try again if I have slipped in between.

In the recent months, God has shifted my attention to consider the larger community, and God’s agenda of building a kingdom of righteousness, peace and joy. This vision drew us in and we recognise that the QH community is a mini-kingdom space as we gather to seek God the King and anchor our lives on His unchanging truth.

We share vulnerably our responses to Scripture, whether delight or bewilderment and give each other the safety to explore, discover and own what we are reading and reflecting on. As we make space for God to communicate to each of us individually and as we share communally, we are digging deeper into what Jesus means when He says He comes to give us everything in abundance, more than I expect - life in its fullness until it overflows! (based on a paraphrase of John 10, using The Passion Translation)

Growing more whole and well requires consistency too. Being a regular part of the QH community, I have built my rhythm of slowly savouring God’s word for an hour twice a month, a habit that has reaped fruit in my life, and I am so happy to be able to share and contribute to the safe community of like-minded ones who are in this - to really live!

Quiet Hour has been so anchoring and life-giving that I wish more could come.