One morning after a meeting at church, I got in my car and prepared to head to the office. But before I started the car, I paused.

There was a mass of birds in the trees. Their calls mixed with the rustling leaves, and for a moment I rested my ears and listened.

Then I heard the whooshing traffic of a nearby expressway. The natural and man-made sounds mixed for a moment, each jockeying for prominence.

The contrast yielded a thought that seemed to come from God. It was as if he said, “Those people rushing by are in a hurry to do and go. Those birds are just being birds, enjoying their perches on this cool morning.”

I had just finished a long-term writing project, so my energy was low. So many months of pushing, agonizing, praying and sleeplessness had spent all my stores. I relished moments like this.

I felt no obligation to join the flow of traffic just yet. I wanted to chew on this scene and let the Lord soak my mind in his thoughts. I wasn’t quite ready to leave this sanctuary.

“Just be my child,” the Lord impressed upon me. He wanted me to stop churning. I felt him fill me with his presence in the space left empty by all my striving. I spent a couple minutes just listening, resting, being.

With his peace slowing my movements, I finally turned the ignition.

I joined the traffic and engaged the day, conscious of God’s encouragement to be.

“Since everything will be destroyed, what kind of people ought you to be?” (2 Pe 3:11)

Excerpted from Servant Leader Strong: Uniting Biblical Wisdom and High-Performance Leadership, by Tom Harper (DeepWater Books, 2019). Also available in Spanish and Amharic.