Learning to Slow Down

Psalm 46:10

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God;

    I will be exalted among the nations,

    I will be exalted in the earth.”

This lovely verse tends to be plastered everywhere on cute wall art to hang in your home (yes, I've got one, too) and in inspirational pictures you see on Instagram and online. "Be still and know". It sounds quaint and sweet, right? Be still and know.

Well here's the thing: this girl has one heck of a time being still. The world around me and my own self inflicted schedule urges me to be everything but quiet and still.

'Be still', in the Strong's Concordance, is some word I can't spell but is pronounced 'raw-faw'. "Cool, great." You say "but what does it mean?" I'm glad you asked. 'Be still': To sink, relax, let drop, abandon.

This command from God is for me to set my self exalted priorities down so that He can be exalted in my life.

"But I want to make my flower bed pretty!" Be still.

"But I don't want to stay home!" Be still.

" But I want to do anything BUT be still! " Be still.

It takes so much for me to lay what I want to do down. To let myself just be and not have to rush around the house cleaning everything or have my mind constantly entertained. I have let myself become preoccupied with busyness and it's robbing my energy, killing my relationship with God and my family and destroying my joy.

Do you know what I mean? Why do we have to be consistently entertained and bombarded with stuff? Schedules, music, movies, hobbies, exercise, the list could go on and on.

Busyness is having an effect that Jesus says that the thief has: "The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life, and have it in abundance [to the full, till it overflows]." John 10:10 AMP.  My busyness is robbing from the abundant life God has promised for me in Jesus. After running and doing all that I desire on my to do list there is no abundance to overflow for anyone.

I do believe that God wanted to use this COVID19 quarantine time for His people to draw them away from busyness to allow us to slow down and be with Him and the people in our homes and lives that are important. Did you let Him slow you down?

For my husband, daughter, and I nothing had really changed because my husband is an essential worker. We stopped going to church while everything else resumed as usual. With that I found everything I could to not be slowed down: Spring cleaning, DIY house projects, Social distance visiting, Long, long car rides, Anything I could to not be still. Ugh. Now I'm paying for it.

The quarantine is practically over where I live and now I dread thinking of all the getting together that I really want to do but don't have the energy for. With an 8 month about to be 9 month old baby, I am a tired momma (and I've heard it doesn't get any easier.) 😴😪

At any rate, I'm NOW trying to learn this art of slowing down. As an awkward social butterfly I do enjoy human interaction so at any invite for getting together I'm usually down to hang out but now I have to learn to say "no, not today." ☹️ This will be good, difficult but good. And if the reward is peace with God, energy to spend with my husband and daughter and a cleared mind then it's definitely going to be worth it.

I think this is a thing called discipline. 🤔 Something I don't particularly enjoy but God's word has a beautiful promise for this: "For the time being no discipline brings joy, but seems sad and painful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness [right standing with God and a lifestyle and attitude that seeks conformity to God’s will and purpose]." Hebrews 12:11 AMP