Be Still: Savor the Present Moment

[bluidkiti]

Be Still: Savor the Present Moment

by Helen Grace Lescheid

“The LORD is my shepherd, I shall lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet water, He restores my soul” (Psalm 23:1-3).

It’s in the quietness that God speaks. He nourishes our souls and our spirits. He restores us so that we can function optimally.

I had gone to a friend’s cottage on the Georgian Bay to recover from extreme mental exhaustion. As I lay on a cot in their spacious verandah, a cup of tea on a small table beside me, I willed myself to listen to the sounds all around me: the lapping of the waves on the shore below, the sighing of the pines near the house, strains of an orchestra playing softly, cooking noises in the kitchen, faint hammering on the yard, someone talking… They were homey and cheerful sounds that gave me hope that one day my life would return to normal again. And, in time, it did.

We need to be still and listen. It’s in those quiet moments that God speaks to us.

Do you feel frazzled? God wants to restore your soul, but He needs you to become quiet to do that.
Before tackling the demands of the day, spend a few moments being still. No music. No reading. No television in the background. Maybe you’ll be noticing a flower in your garden or sitting quietly listening to the rain.

Have you ever spent ten minutes quietly listening to the rain? It’s amazing what you hear: Hollow sounds as the drops hit a pipe, flat sounds as they caress a leaf, prickly sounds as they bounce off the window pane, dull sounds on cement…It’s a veritable symphony!

And all of it speaks to me of God’s order in nature as well as in life.

“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.

The LORD Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress” (Psalm 46:10).

~Thank you, Father, that I’m always in your Presence. Now as I listen to You in the quietness, let me hear Your voice. Amen.

Questions: What is so important about having that quiet moment with God? What happens during those moments?