“Your strength is your stillness – because your stillness says you’re trusting Him still.”
Ann Voskamp
Stillness solves more problems than we realize. It’s one of the best things we can do to have a healthy emotional heart. If you have time for just one soul care practice, make it stillness.
Our busy, noisy lives thwart what our souls need to survive and thrive. Stillness calms the soul, brings peace to your emotions, and provides awareness as you reflect. Stillness is the missing piece in most of our life puzzles. Silencing the clamoring and slowing our fast-paced lives are gifts we can give to our souls. Stillness lends itself to listening and pondering which is where God’s voice is heard, and wisdom is revealed.
When I first tried to embrace solitude and stillness, everything in me bucked up against this. Quietness was foreign to me and felt uncomfortable, like a sweater that was two sizes too small for me. I was tempted to rip the sweater off, to flee stillness and run back to the hurried catch-my-breath pace of life, full of raucous and stress.
Resist that temptation. Lean into five minutes of stillness and allow the too-tight sweater to stretch and perfectly conform to your body. Put aside your distracting phone and your mile-long to-do list in exchange for five minutes of what your soul needs most – stillness. Eventually, you will be trained to not only feel comfortable with stillness, but your soul will hunger for more than a measly five-minute meal. Once your soul sips from the well of stillness, it will be like a dry sponge thirsting for more. You will no longer be able to take it or leave it.
Isaiah 30:15 says that it’s in quietness and trust that our strength lies. The prophet Zechariah in 2:13a encourages us to “be still before the Lord.” Psalm 46:10a commands us to “Be still, and know that I am God.” Revelation of who God is and who we are, our identity, comes from being still. We commune with God in our stillness.
You won’t regret any time you devote to being still; it is living water to a dry and thirsty parched soul. Stillness is an act of surrender to God that soothes our souls and provides them with safety and security. As the soul goes, so goes the rest of your life. Take the time to be still.
“If it’s true that our deepest desire is to be seen and known, then we are only seen and known as much as we are still.”
Ann Voskamp
Relevant Reflection:
Stop whatever you are doing and take five minutes to be still.
Image by Delyth Williams from Pixabay
Comments