BE STILL Psalm 46:10 - “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!”
We were camping at a favorite place in the mountains. My daughter and I had a quiet moment together and she whispered to me, saying sweetly, “It’s so quiet, and I like to hear the birds when it’s quiet.” This was a life lesson moment for me - to be still and enjoy what I hear in the quiet, with no agenda but to listen.
Psalm 46:10 tells us to be still. According to commentators I’ve read, this is not meant as comfort for the harassed but a rebuke to a restless and turbulent world: Quiet! - in fact “leave off.” This is not advice to us to lead a contemplative life, however important that may be…it means rather, “Lay down your arms. Surrender, and acknowledge that I am the one and only victorious God.”
We aren’t good at being still. We need to practice it! Just as we build stamina for running or weightlifting, we need to build stamina for being still. Start small - maybe only 3 minutes. 3 minutes of being still. Simply listening. Why? To know that “I am God.” Does that sweat running down my back remind me of the amazing body God created that air conditions itself? When my mind starts to make lists and review my tasks, can I thank God that I have learned responsibility and then let it go as I practice being still? There are no rules to being still, except that we are told to do it.
Reflection: Am I teaching my children to strive? As I learn how to be still, can I also begin to teach my children to be still, to delight, to rest?
Lord, in a quiet moment, let me feel Your presence. You have things for me to be doing but let me learn to be still and quiet in Your presence as well.
Janine became a Body & Soul® Instructor in 1991 after being a student for 4 years. She has taught a variety of classes. She and her husband have 3 married children and 9 grandkids.
