I struggle with being still. I like to move, I am always thinking, and most of the time I am strategizing about my next 10 moves should be. I have an active brain. When I do an honest self-evaluation I can say that my active brain has gotten me in trouble more than a couple times.
What usually ends up happening is that I try to control outcomes instead of trusting God. More often than not I forget that I need to be present with God rather than worrying so much about what needs to happen next. I miss the moment. I need to slow my brain down, I need to find peace in knowing that I am a part of something much bigger than myself. In those moments I turn to Psalm 46:10.
The hardest part of this Psalm for me is the "be still" part. I used to think that this was a passive word. That being still meant doing nothing, I could give you a thousand things that are more productive than being still.
Just this past week my thought process on this verse has changed. Being still isn't passive. Rather being still is an active response to who God is, and to who God wants to be in my life. The next line says, "and know that I am God!" For me this is a reminder that I am not God. That there is only one God, and I get to honor that God. The writer of the Psalm even uses an exclamation point, as if to say, "Get excited about not being God. I'm relieving you of that burden, just be still and enjoy it."
What God revealed to me this week is that being still means surrendering to Him as the Lord of my life, and that is an act of worship.
Surrendering means that God gets to be in charge today, that even though my active brain is going 15 thousand miles a minute I don't have to move without talking to God first. Being still is a reminder that God has to be the first person I check in with, and the last person I discuss the options with.
Being still is about including God in the process.
I'm still not great at it, but here are some of the things that I remember when I want to "be still" with God....
- Breathe. Breathing is a great reminder to get back to the basics. I need this reminder in my life, I complicate waaaaay to many things.
- Find a space where I can be alone and talk out loud to God. There is something that happens when I verbalize what I am thinking about to God in an audible way. Sometimes I can feel the Holy Spirit enter the room when I am talking to God.
- Get in touch with nature. Whenever life feels like it is crashing in around me I can always find peace in God's creation. Getting outside is a great way for me to remember that I am a part of something much bigger (and when it's to cold outside I just find a nice big window to stare out of).
These are some of the things that I do to find the stillness in my life. By no means is this list exhaustive.
What do you do to "be still"?
How do you incorporate this in your life?
If you struggle with this like I do what commitment can you do to enhance this connection with God?