Be still, and know that I am God …

How rarely we do that, just be still. Just let God be God.

It is so hard.

Because if God is God, then I am definitely not.

And sometimes that is tough to face.

So, we run and run and run, hoping somehow to prove our worth, to find meaning, to justify our existence.

Is it too much for God to ask that every once in awhile we be still?

Is it too much for God to ask that every once in awhile we simply allow God to be God?

This poem from Mary Oliver helps me do these really hard things:

Today

Today I’m flying low and I’m

not saying a word.

I’m letting the voodoos of ambition sleep.

The world goes on as it must,

the bees in the garden rumbling a bit,

the fish leaping, the gnats getting eaten.

And so forth.

But I’m taking the day off.

Quiet as a feather.

I hardly move though really I’m traveling

a terrific distance.

Stillness. One of the doors

into the temple.

(Mary Oliver, 1935-2019)

Stillness, friends ...

One of the doors into the temple.