Be Still and Know

Psalm 46:10a > "Be still, and know that I am God." (ESV)

Life can get busy. It can take us in different directions and down different paths. Before we know it, we've lost track of time. Perhaps even our sanity. It feels as if so many things are in need of our attention. Can't something just wait so that we can breathe??

There are times that our busyness is of our own doing. Not necessarily on purpose, we just didn't notice. I remember an older cousin  of mine who could not concentrate and talk on the phone at the same time. You could sit right beside her, while she was on the phone, and slowly hand her little things.  Her sister and I would get so tickled at the amount of stuff she would accumulate in her lap. She never even realized what was going on. By the time she was ready to hang up the phone, her lap was completely full! She would even have 1 more object in her hand that she was unaware of. The look on her face was priceless; "How did this happen?" She never realized that she had sat there and had taken everything we handed her. (Kinda devious of us, huh?)

In the same way, we are handed stuff without being fully aware. We say "yes", "sure", "bring it on",  and "why not" to so many things. They may not even be bad things, either. Eventually we become so overwhelmed with what's in our lap that we can't recall how it ever got there. We didn't notice the mound growing.

But it's the stuff that catches us off guard that takes our breath. The stuff that is thrown at us; the stuff  we have no control over. It becomes difficult to even stand straight on or own accord. Oh, we want to stand straight alright but the weight of it all causes us to be slightly bent. How did all of this suddenly happen? Did we miss a sign that it was coming? The questions we ask ourselves become limitless.

Life can feel as if we are unable to endure such hardships. We make a mental schedule of how we could possibly do it all and find we don't have the answers. I'm really good about making mental schedules. But that's usually as far as it gets. It never seems to make it to the paper. I have found myself, a time or two, being so overwhelmed and yet I never admitted to it. I continued forward in my own strength.  I continued forward pretending that everything was perfectly fine. Until one day...

One day, my lap was full. When I attempted to stand up everything in it fell to the floor. The really important stuff as well as the not-so-important stuff were all mingled together. Tears formed in my eyes and a lump swelled in my throat; how was I ever going to take care of it all?

I couldn't. I was incapable.  It was time for me to simply be still. No matter what demands were screaming for my attention, no matter what demands were knocking at my door, it was time for me to be still. It was time for me to know that He was (is) God. That takes courage!!