Be still and know ...

Be still and know …

I was on the move again today, driving, as I often am, this time just the 46 miles home from visiting a good friend. In motion. Traveling. Thinking about time and space. Is it only because I was a homeschooling father that RT=D story problems are burned into my consciousness?! And is it only me that finds nearly endless fascination with the deep questions of existence—involving space and time—-embodied in that simple equation?

And along with the rambling thoughts, a strange wanderlust, a restless hunger to get somewhere to stop and rest, finding a place to BE. Many haunts sometimes serve the purpose: coffee shops (the upscale espresso kind, like Chaps, Rockwood, Rocket, Delicio, or Service Station), bars (the upscale microbrew kind, like Twigs, Twigs, or Twigs!), or parks (the upscale manicured kind, like Manito, Finch, Riverfront, or Corbin). But driven, I kept driving, passing them all by, headed HOME.

The spirit was talking. And the Spirit. Whispering the Word: Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10).

Stabilitus. (Latin for stability.) That monastic vow that captures in concret practice this BEING STILL. Committing to A PLACE. A place to BE. To STAY where one is. To be in A PARTICULAR space for all of one’s earthly life.

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you (Psalm 116:7). Here the Hebrew has in view a resting place, the home of a person or the lair of an animal, with the focus that this is a place of rest, satisfaction, and contentment (Kohlenberger).

Is it possible that one must cease traveling in order to know God? That in motion, on the move, we cannot fully know God? The One who transcends time and space absolutely requires of us finite creations in his image that we STOP and BE; that we occupy a time, the time, a place, the space, to be with, to learn from, to know him?

Now of course he travels with us. But for us to fully know him we may need to adopt his speed: Stopped, resting, still, quiet: all the things our hurried, harried, snowbirding existences find so foreign.

I went home. I am here, now. In my place, in my space. Settled. And thrilled BEING in his presence.

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One Thing ...

“One thing” is such a wonderful and significant phrase in Scripture. I think of it more now as I say it frequently in both morning and evening prayers from the Northumbria Community. How different from our long to do lists is the idea of doing just one thing. It is a great antidote to the perfectionist’s all-or-nothing thinking. Just do one thing! NOW!

I walked past a piece of litter, as I have other mornings doing chores, procrastinating. But this morning I stopped, turned back, and picked it up. Victory! A small victory, to be sure, but why must things be big to be important?

I love these two references in this regard: “Despise not the day of small things” (adapted from Zechariah 4:10) and “The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little.” (Deuteronomy 7:22; compare Exodus 23:28-30.)

“One things” are often little things. But done faithfully, they accumulate. Litter gets picked up one piece at a time. Live is lived one day at a time. Relish small victories!