Still

When I was a kid living for a time in England, my parents had some friends named Joyce & Michael Cayton whose home we visited quite often.  Their kids were grown and long out of the house.  I was nine and I drove her completely mental. 

On one occasion I remember being at her house and she - obviously exasperated with my...uh...high energy level, grabbed me by the arm and took me to the kitchen.  She got a glass and a pitcher down from the cupboard.  The pitcher was completely empty, as was the glass, and she went through the motions of "pouring" something from the empty pitcher into the glass. She handed me the glass and said, "I want you to drink this, it's a glass of "still".  

I find myself in a hurry most of the time.  I've got stuff to do.  Just like you do.  You ever get overwhelmed by the long list of stuff that you have to do and all the things still undone? Sometimes it seems like the faster I go, the behinder I get.  And then I look at the list (actually it's a list of lists) of all the stuff I've got to do, and go, "Where is the quiet time, where is the time in God's word - not the time preparing a message from God's word - just the time alone with God?  

Maybe you have this all figured out and your schedule never "runs" you.  Fantastic!  You should write a book and do seminars.  For everyone else, here's a scripture that I've been thinking about lately:  

     Be still, and know that I am God 

                                (Psalm 46:10) 

What an invitation; just breathe in, breathe out, and be still. 

I think I'll have another glass.