“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalm 46:10
Busy! We love to stay busy, don’t we? Our current speeds of life are fast and faster. When someone asks how life has been, how frequently is our response, “busy?” Yet here we find ourselves with an unexpected and uninvited time of space. While I wholeheartedly agree with the decision to cancel the remainder of the ACC tournament and subsequent NCAA tournament, I will be the first to lament that we are not enjoying March Madness this year. Coupled with that, there is no college baseball to enjoy and a delayed Opening Day of MLB. Plus, there are no high school sports for us to enjoy right now. No soccer matches, no baseball games, and no tennis matches. Our favorite response of “we are so busy” has been stripped from us right now. Where does that leave us?
God tells us in Psalm 46:10 to be still and to know He is God. In our fast-pace society, we have lost the art of what it means to be still, to pause, and to reflect. We fill our days and our lives with so much busyness and noise that we have forgotten how to be silent, how to be still. Perhaps we have even forgotten how to recognize the voice of God. At various times in my life, I have longed for living life in the simpler times, before social media and the internet dominated our days. Oh for the days of Little House on the Prairie. Now, we have been thrust into such days and we have been presented with a rare gift in our current era. We have been given the gift of time, of quiet, of space, of margin. We have been given the gift of slowing down. When I was a little girl, I loved carefree days of being outside. I would spend hours creating stories in my imaginary world and live them out on the stage that was my front porch. I would lose hours in the woods, savoring nature. I would set off on grand adventures on my bike. There was no Netflix, no social media. We used phones to actually talk to others. Jesus told the Pharisees in Mark 2:27, “The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath.” While He said this to illustrate a different point, given the current pandemic, these words have resonated with me. God established the Sabbath because He created us and He knew before He created us, how busy we would someday fill our lives. He carved out this observance in order for us to institute a time of rest and a time to focus on Him. We are a tired society. Tired from the self-imposed busyness. In the midst of all of the uncertainty in the world around us right now, He is still good and He is still meeting our needs, even the ones we did not realize we had. “Be still”, He whispers to each of our worn-out hearts. “Come to Me,” He beckons. Jesus is waiting. He wants us to be still and know Him. Embrace this time He has granted. Stay home. Read a book. Remember what you once loved to do, and, if possible, do it again. Throw football or baseball around in the yard. Take your dogs for a walk. Go for a hike. Look up. Look around. And know God. Relax, release, and let go. Play cards, play a board game, do family karaoke. Gather around the table together as a family. Pray together. Read God’s Word together and discuss it. Laugh harder. Love more intentionally. Use your phone for its original purpose. Then, pause and thank God, the Creator of the universe, for His voice, His presence, His God-ness. Embrace the gift of stillness and the gift of today!
My prayer is that you and your family will remain healthy and well during this season! Blessings!
The Satisfied Soul 