My son, when he was little, had trouble settling down for bed. It wasn’t so much energy oozing externally, propelling him from bed. It was all about how to still his mind to sleep.
It was the thinking, the ideas needing to be expressed – from his eyes, to his mouth to his fingertips to his feet – and not knowing how to still it all.
“Your fingers need to go to sleep, too,” I’d say, sitting with him, – and he’d still his fingers. One by one, he’d try to still thoughts and expression – kind of like turning the house lights off one-by-one. He wasn’t even 5 years old.
Learning how to still it all isn’t just a 5-year-old thing .
I know how he feels. Except it’s not always a stilling for sleepy-time things – a stilling of fingers and toes.
My self-perception is affected by thoughts that need stilling. To-do list thoughts, How-to, How-to-achieve-things-like-dreams thoughts, creeping-in-sly-fearful thoughts, less-than-my-better-self thoughts.
When I think of God, His plans for my life – I think of action, doing, achieving, always feeling behind the plan instead of ahead of the plan – never just where I need to be in the unfolding of the plan.
Motion – never stopping, never stilling – for fear I’ll end up to far behind to catch up.
All types of motion are required for real, living relationship with God.
Sometimes with God, I am to just stand, in a withstand way.
Sometimes, He carries me.
Sometimes, I am to read love letters He left outside my door, in a nature walk, in the journey to a waterfall, in a thunder storm.
Sometimes, we walk, heads bent together, arms linked
Other times, it has been like sitting on a porch swing, quiet, no talking, nothing happening but just being together – being still together.
That was this week.
Being still was a tough lesson for me last week. For a time, it left me confused, empty, insecure, sadly forlorn.
Instead of me soothing my children to still themselves, He kept admonishing me to still myself.
He sat with me on a porch, in the mountains, during a storm that blew dust particles from trees into my face before spraying me with a misty coolness.
I wanted to read a love letter, to find a message from Him, but He just said,
“Be still. Just be with me. You can read the letter later. It will keep.”
Sitting in a chair, casting and reeling because I couldn’t do much else, in a little pond in a little cabin where cleaning and cooking were off-limits for my surgery recovery, I tried to build a post out of it all.
“Be still. Just be with me.Everything else will keep,“ He said.
I couldn’t swim in the pond, couldn’t go rowing in the boat because of my stitches, so I watched my boys, took pictures and sat on the sidelines. I kept trying to find meaning for a message
But He just said, “Be still. Just be with Me. Everything else will keep.”
Sometimes I need to live out the “being” – let everything unfold – let it swirl down inside and “be” a part of it, even if it is just sitting.
Sometimes just to be with Him, recognize that He is sitting with me, beside me – that He wants to have relationship like that – like on a porch swing late in the afternoon when no words are needed, and we just watch together, just be still together.
I don’t think He created Adam and Eve for Big thoughts, Big tasks, Big achievements. Sometimes He calls us to those – the Father, also wants to walk with us in the cool of the day and spend time with us (Genesis 3:8).
“Be Still,” He says – fingers, toes, and, yes, my mind.
“And Know that I am God”(Psalm 46:10)
He doesn’t want us to just know He is God – He wants us to know Him – even in the stillness of just being.
When He wants us to be still, everything else will keep.
Still joining Ann Voskap at A Holy Experience learning how to see the gifts God leaves me daily – it has been like a training camp this counting to 1,000 gifts – filled with blessing!
580) Prayers from friends in the blogahood and the neighborhood.
581) No pain
582) the ability to stretch
583) little guys who still give hugs
584) the ability to recuperate without pressure
585) pink, yellow and orange zinnias with bergamot blossoms in Mason Jars
586) uninterrupted time with my husband
587) waking my little guys up at the cabin to go fishing, counting ribs to get their muscles moving, their voices woke up, and shrieks of laughter filling my ears
588) a blue gill I caught with the wrong bait and a bobbin – it matched my glasses. We released it
589) my husband putting the worm on my hook – for some reason, it was easier a long, long time ago when squirmy wasn’t as yucky
590) watching the boys play in the pond, one in an inner-tube, one on noodles, another rowing
591) knowing that sometimes the figurative dragging to an experience is a moms job – knowing what the result can be when they get there – and see it all come about
592) peace that I did not have to be doing, achieving or even being productive as I recovered
593) air-conditioning and plenty of hose water for my tomatoes, zucchini, squash and zinnias
594) the blessing of healing
595) Sons who find our home comforting, a place to replenish, refresh
596) Sharing Sunday dinner, even if it is leftovers
597) Answered prayers unfurling
598) Evening walks with my husband, water, finding watermelons growing, red tomatoes, a rain tree flourishing.
Nice post. I used the same verse on mine tonight. So glad you’re doing good Maryleigh. Have a blessed day tomorrow…Chelle
This is such a lovely post. We are so accustomed to always being busy, that it can be a little bit uncomfortable to be still. Perhaps this is a sweet kiss from Abba as a result of your surgery~ to have the opportunity to simply “rest” in His embrace. Blessings to you! 🙂
Lovely post! Being still, slowing down, and clearing my thoughts is a conscious choice I have to make and it’s not always easy, but it leads me to a greater appreciation for the day and changes (sometimes!) meaningless tasks to spiritual productivity and purpose. I still have a long way to go to make this choice more often and learn to slow down-ha!
Blessings on your continued recovery! 🙂
Denise
To be still was my word for the year from the verse, be still and know that I am God. This post hit me right where I am, just what I needed today!
Wow I seriously just wrote about being quiet before God, that it’s okay to be quiet! Amazing, He is teaching the church the same thing at once 🙂
What a blessing this post is… I love the peace it exudes.
Praying you will soon be fully recovered.
It is good to be reminded of things we are thankful for. THis practice helps us to be appreciative, and not take things for granted.
Much love
Lidia
Ya got me, Mary Leigh. Thanks for warming my heart with what I needed to hear today. Thank you.
Lovely words – valuable message.
Thanks for sharing.
Blessings ~
I clicked on your link off one thousand gifts and have been blessed by your words. There is so much to be learned in stillness. Learning to quiet our mind and sit in obedience to God is a challenging task, but there is so much value in it. I have learned that when I stop talking to God—and start listening—I am able to hear his quiet voice much more. Have to share a little paragraph from the devotional that I read this morning from Jesus Calling (Sarah Young) –
July 9—“Ask My spirit to quiet your mind so that you can think My thoughts. This ability is an awesome benefit of being My child, patterned after my own image. Do not be deafened by the noise of the world or that of your own thinking. Instead, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Sit quietly in My presence, letting My thoughts reprogram your thinking.”
Thanks for sharing your heart with the world.
Blessings,
Tanni
Love the line< just be with me. Good breath prayer. I too have trouble being still and think I can just click it on and off at will. Helps me to know others struggle with this and hear the same message I do. God is so good!
Such a perfect post for me today. I have trouble stilling my thoughts and productivity, too. May God grant you a smooth and complete recovery.
Really good post.
Being still was hard for me at five, and it’s hard for me now. I think I need you to come over and give me a pep talk about keeping me fingers still.
Cheering for #531, friend.
Great post, I have been struggling with a restlessness, and the whole time I keep thinking I need to just slow down, rest, be still. But it is so hard as a homeschool mom of a small herd of kids…the need to do, to plan, to achieve is so overwhelming!! Thank you for this, it really was what I needed to hear, what God has been trying to whisper into my head.
Blessings!
Janelle
Oh..oh…yes…I went through a season…and that is all He kept whispering in my ear…He did still my body…then my heart and mind followed…not that I have arrived…but oh…He is changing this very active person. My husband and I have been talking about this doing vs being thing…we want to do…and by doing we think we will have…but it is really in the being…building that sweet relationship…that any doing should flow from.
great post….loved you sweet comment on mine…there will be a time in the going or coming from Knoxville…a stop for coffee will be happen:)
I struggle with this. My mind is always jumping from one thing to the next. Thank you for the reminder to be still.
Great post.
Isn’t it amazing and wonderful how God just loves to be WITH us, and we don’t need to perform…it can be a struggle for me to learn to be still, and He has used various physical limitations to slow me down, so I could relate to your post…praying that you are recovering well…blessings, Maryleigh 🙂
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My husband and I were just talking the other day about being still..it is something he has practiced throughout his life, meditating on all the things God has done for him. I too have a really hard time calming the mind and relaxing in him. After my talk with my husband and reading your post, it seems something that Jesus wants me to work on. Oh, the thoughts that will try to get in the way. Resting and leaving all the thoughts and worries to him will be a release that I know I need.
oy, those times we ar forced to be still can be so tough but also enlightening when we realize how often we are not truly still…i hope that you heal up well, but also learn what you need from it…
Learning to trust and rely on Him and just rest… just relax and wait for His love to overwhelm and overcome us. When that happens, I rejoice and never experience anything similar for some time again, b/c I’m on my feet and ready to run. But HE is so faithful to us.
“Be still. Just be with Me. Everything else will keep.” I needed to hear this today — being still and being with God always gets pushed to the backburner when I get busy. I have to remind myself all the things God has given me to do, He will give me time to do.
I can so relate – God has had me focusing on those verses off and on this summer as well! – And continuing to praise God with you for great news. Have a blessed and JOY-FILLED week. 🙂
Good thoughts. We need to know when to “go” and when to “stay”. Our daughter was the one who was wide awake at bedtime and probably would have stayed up all night if we had let her. Our son was ready for bed and many times would just go ahead without being told at about 8 o’clock. What a difference in children. I’m sure God takes these differences into consideration in dealing with each of us.
Blessings,
Charlotte