Stillness

I recently joined a girls group where we challenge each other to focus on a particular Bible verse or an idea like “patience” for a week. During that time, we each study on our own, read the Bible, read other sources, pray, and just watch how God applies the concept to our daily lives. We journal the insights we receive, then we get together and share what we’ve experienced and learned. This last week’s topic verse has been, “Be still and know that I am God,” from Psalm 46:10.

“Being still” is not something I do very well, so this was a great topic for me. My journal pages have filled with verses, quotes, thoughts, questions, prayers, and poems as I’ve begun to wrestle through what it means in my life right now to be still and know that God is God.

I’ll share one of my thoughts from my journal with you. This actually was prompted by an old journal entry that I wrote when I was researching fragrance for a devotional:

In Elizabethan times, the woman of the house might have a “still room.” It was a place where she prepared items for the cleanliness and health of the body and the home. Flowers and herbs would be hung from the rafters. A table top would include a mortar and pestle for preparing fragrant mixes.

I like the idea of a still room, but one of a different kind. What I think of is a place where I can find quiet and stillness, where I can get away from the fast pace and demands of the day and be still before God. I need that in my life—a time or place where I can find Him and allow Him to renew me, change me, teach me.

In my journal I also wrote about other analogies of the Elizabethan still room. You might see those in the above description too . . . but back to stillness.

I have a “still room” now—a place where I can go deeper with the One who calls me to stillness; where I can listen and wait and see if he has something to say to me; or where I can just be in his presence enjoying who he is and who he has created me to be. Yep, God and I have had some pretty amazing times together in my still room.

I’m wondering what your experiences and challenges with stillness have been. In this fast-paced world, do you sense a need to slow down and be quiet before God? What has worked for you in trying to intentionally make that a part of your week? What would your still room look like? Please share!

Jan
www.choose2livefree.com/
www.jankern.com/