As I started thinking about what I wanted my first blog
entry to be about, the first part of
verse Psalm 46:10 came to my mind- “Be still and know that I am God.” I’ve been wanting to blog for a while now,
but haven’t had time to sit down and pen my thoughts- at least any meaningful
thoughts. At least, that’s what I’ve
been telling myself. It’s probably more
correct to say, I haven’t made time to write.
I’m a firm believer that we make time for what’s (or who’s) important to
us. I love to write, always have. So, for now, I’ve decided that it’s important
enough for me to dig up and carve out a little time for a buried love of mine
and see how it goes…Now, back to the verse- “Be still and know that I am God.”-
see, I’ve already jumped topic, which by the way, if you’ve ever had a
conversation with me at any length, it’s
just what I do. So, instead of spending hours editing my writing,
which I really don’t have time for,
I’ll just write raw and unedited and hope anyone who decides to read it can
make some sense of it….”Be still and know that I am God”- (Can you see why I struggle with this verse?)…Although this verse’s
meaning seems pretty clear to me, I have a son in seminary and I have become
paranoid about misusing verses, so I did a little research just so I wouldn’t
look like an idiot if a Bible scholar (like my son) happens to read this ;)….
In addition to “Be still”, “cease striving” and “be weak”- were a few favorites
that I found that were used to clarify the meaning of this passage. One commentary wrote, “This command, ‘be
still’, forces us to think on two
things: that we are finite and that God is infinite.” I had to stop and ask myself the question- “How
often do I still my mind or 'cease striving' long enough to consider my finite
position before my infinite Creator?”
It’s easy to rest the body, but almost impossible to rest the mind,
especially long enough to consider a question with such gravity. Given
the technological world we live in today, our minds are rarely at rest. To personalize this (after all, that’s what a
blog is for, right?), God has blessed (or cursed) me, as with most estrogen-
dominated humans, with a heart to
communicate....and to communicate often;) – which is one of the things I first loved
about facebook- it offered to satisfy that need for constant communication in my life....And for
someone who loves to write, that “blessing” was two-fold. Though, just like any other good thing, too
much of a good thing can be a bad thing, and over time, I noticed an
off-balance of my “be still” time. I
think part of keeping a busy mind keeps us from seeing our lives for what they
truly are. No one wants to see the ugly,
broken parts of ourselves, so we stay busy so we don’t have to. There is something so vulnerable (and who
wants to be vulnerable?) about being stripped down, bare-souled, before our Creator- who we know
in His sovereignty knows everything about us anyway, but in all of our
“busy-ness”, we allow ourselves a temporary vacation from that reality….so to
speak… I’m not saying “busy-ness” is always a bad thing- only when it takes you
away from the very One we were made to commune with.
One of the
reasons I decided to start online journaling was to, hopefully, combine my love
of writing and my need for communication and use them in a more meaningful way
besides an occasional sarcastic facebook post.
I once heard a comedian compare a woman’s brain to spaghetti & I
couldn’t agree more! I have so many
random thoughts going through my mind at any given time & writing them down helps me to make sense of
them (though sometimes, they still don’t make sense). Writing gives freedom to my thoughts, and
through that freedom, somehow, for me, brings validation. Weirdly, by capturing a few of my thoughts on
paper (or computer screen), it forces me to give more thought to my own
thoughts (which probably doesn’t make sense).
Mostly, I just want to be an encourager with my words, and also to share
with others when I am encouraged by His word (which needs to happen more
often). Romans 12:2 says, “And do not be
conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so
that you may prove what that will of God is, that which is good, and
acceptable, and perfect.”…….which is hard to do unless we are making time to “Be still…”
Happy New Year! Trying to “be still” more in 2014…
~ Tracie
