Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Stillness

Psalm 46 tells us to "Be still and know that I am God." It sounds so simple, does it not? Be still. Do...nothing. Just exist. No agenda, no expectations. Why is this such a difficult task?

Our society so values efficiency. We judge how good a day was by how much we accomplished. How many items were checked off of our 'to-do' list. What great and mighty actions can we lay claim to. Yet, all this hustle and bustle takes away from the goodness of life. When I am too focused on household chores, I don't get to enjoy and treasure my time with Jameson. When we are too focused on being busy in the evenings, we miss valuable time we could be spending as a family. And, when we don't practice the art of being still it becomes hard to slow ourselves down and listen to God.

How often do we half-pray? By that I mean we talk to God, asking for His guidance, His help, maybe offering praise, but we don't listen to His response. How would your relationship with your spouse, your best friend, with anyone grown if you only ever talked to them, but never listened. It's hard to listen when the words aren't always audible, and when we are always distracted by the many things we need to be doing. So, when the tough times and big decisions come along, we aren't well-practiced in the art of listening to God's response to our pleas for guidance. It is hard to suddenly Be still and know Him when we are out of practice, harder still to hear His response.

I find myself right now sitting in a hotel room. Jameson is (finally) napping, Michael is in meetings, and I have some down time. Unlike at home, where I would be running laundry, cooking dinner, cleaning the house, I have a few minutes. Deciding what to do with them I thought "I could pray." Nothing the world would see as efficient or noteworthy, but probably the best thing I could do for my family right now.

So, the next time I try to fill my day from morning to night, or the next time I find myself wanting to judge someone for being lazy I need to remember to be still. The simplest thing in the world, yet often the hardest.

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