Be Still

"Be still, and know that I am God!"
Psalm 46:10 (NLT)

I don’t know about you but I have an awfully hard time sitting still. My profession requires me to be on my feet and constantly observing the goings on of a 1500 square foot kitchen for 8 hours a day. When I do sit down it is only for a minute or two. I don’t get a lunch hour to sit and relax and if I did I don’t think I would know what to do with it.

When I get home I get the joy of running around the backyard with my son, having adventures, playing sports, and ensuring that the time we get together is quality togetherness time. As the sole proprietor of my home all the maintenance and upkeep is up to me.

There are many days that I wake up before 5:00am and the first time I sit still for any length of time is when I sit down after dinner around 6:00pm. My day is jam packed with things to do, responsibilities that need to be taken care of and a wonderful baby boy to spend time with. Don’t misunderstand me, I am not complaining.......I wouldn’t have it any other way!!

The consequence of all this busyness is that when I do finally take a load off and relax I have what some call “Monkey Mind”. My mind is like a monkey, swinging from thought to thought, never resting on any one thing for very long. When the Psalmist says, “Let all that I am wait quietly before God” in Psalm 62:5 my mind says, “Yeah right, what about that shopping list, and the project at work, and the tree in the backyard needs to be cut, and......”

I wish that I could quiet my mind long enough to sit before The Almighty and just listen to see what He has to say. It’s bad enough to be praying and all of a sudden I am thinking about my favorite book or television show but to actually sit still, be quiet and listen........my mind just doesn’t allow it!!

Why? I don’t need to get God’s attention as it is immediate and unavoidable, all I have to do is focus on eternal things!! This inner quietness will come to me when I stop trying to possess things. When all that I do possess is held in my open hand and not held onto with an iron grip, that is when I will know the peace that will allow my mind to sit still. When I realize that all I have been blessed with is for sharing with other people, when I let go of attachments to anything or anyone besides God, then nothing will disrupt my stillness.

Jesus said in Luke 14:26 that if we are to be His disciples we are to hate everyone else by comparison. This means that we are to not love anything more than Him. This doesn’t mean that we are to withhold love or hate as we know it but it does mean that we are to love only in the shadow of the Cross.

By demonstrating proper focus on eternal things, it will lead to true stillness and contentment.

God bless.