It ain't no quiet time!!

Psalm 46:10   “Be STILL and know that I am God.” 

This verse has helped guide me for years. When life gets out of balance, I somehow get reminded of this instruction. I used to have it up in beautiful scripted letters all across my bathroom mirror to remind me first thing each day.

But, you know how it is when you see something every day. You get where you don’t see it at all. Just like when I call a very intentional, much needed and desired visit with the LORD God Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth…my “quiet time”.  I call it that. I say I have it. But ritual gives way to distraction so easily. I either begin to forget how much I need and desire it, or when I show up for it (set aside a few minutes) it just isn’t quiet.

Well, the verse really says to be still. J So, is it still?? I think currently the answer would have to be NO. I usually sit in a glider rocker in my multi-purpose room.  I have a quilt studio, an office, and a piano in here. Bringing in a cup of hot tea, gathering up my journal and bible, getting everything set should put me in….Oh, and finding my iPod, headset, and quilt...  a great place, atmosphere, and mood for worship, reading a verse or two, praying….oh, wait, I also need to turn on the extra little heater sometimes and get the Texas Rangers Snuggy my son gave me…. But for some reason it takes a basic aerobics session… Oh, sometimes it’s the ceiling fan that needs to be turned on…to get still, and yet I still can’t be still!

You would think the glider was an airplane not a rocking chair! I get the glider rockin’, the ottoman rockin’, my heart is beating fast, my mind is racing, and the last think going on is quiet, much less still.

Now to slow those rpm’s a tad.

For starters, drop the title. It ain’t no quiet time. It doesn’t need to be. Not at the moment. If this is me right now, my best bet is to put on some jumpin’ type worship music and shuffle a bit. Raise my arms and thank the LORD for giving me a day to start. Holler a bit about what’s got me riled up. Shout to the LORD some thankfulness. Give up a few Hallelujahs.  Cry a few honest tears about the fears I keep cussin’ and discussing throughout the day.

After all that, it’s time to grab my To Do List! What? During my “quiet time”?? Yep, because if I don’t, sure as I start to wind down and get a stillness coming over me, my mind will go into relax mode and that’s exactly when I’m going to remember that I need to make a trip to Walmart for this, Brookshires for that, and go by and say hi to… You too? You have just been declared normal and fully able to enter into the Holy of Holies intact, ready to converse with your Creator on an intimate basis!

Now, with some of my junk out of the way, the to-do-list by my chair, maybe a potty break, I’m ready to ask some sincere questions, read that verse, pray that verse, write a thank-you note to God, etc.

Is it any wonder we’ve been instructed to Be still - before, or so we’ll have the capacity to know that he is God? The order of our gyrations to get to the point of stillness is not important. It is only important that we eventually get still. And know that he is God.

I’m just sayin’.