"When It's Hard to Be Still" - Ps 46:10

Do you have a tough time sitting still?  When I'm at work, I find I have to get up and move around all the time.  In my home office, I have a stand-up desk on one side and a sit-down table on the other side, with an adjustable bar stool to adjust between the two heights.  Frequently--just because I have a hard time sitting still--I get up, leave the office, and take a walk around the house.  It's hard for me to be still.

That's why I practice being still almost every morning, in contemplative prayer and meditation.  Using breathing techniques and the repitition of sacred words, fingering through prayer beads (which help me move a little while being still), I practice inner silence.  

In Psalm 46:10, the Lord says, "Be still, and know that I am God."

  

Not long ago in meditation, the mantra I repeated was simply the two words "Be still."  And here's what came to mind: that word "still" has a lot of meanings, and the phrase "be still" can have a lot of applications.

• "Be still" means to quit moving.  It means, literally, to let your body relax, to feel your own breath and heartbeat, to quit fidgeting.  This is important in many types of meditation.
• "Be still" means to be calm or tranquil, as in still water.  Just as still water has no current or ripples, a still mind allows itself to simply rest in God's presence, and to reflect God's image.
• "Be still" means to utter no sound.  It means to cease filling the mind and the mouth with extraneous words and thoughts.  When my vocal cords and brain cease forming words, the Word of God can finally speak.
• "Be, still" (with a comma) means to abide, continually.  It means to remain.  It means to just exist in this present moment.  To just be, despite all that's going on.  It means to just be, nevertheless.  
• Finally, (I'm taking a little latitude) "To be a still" means to be a distillery.  It means to be like a whiskey still, filtering out the contaminants of the world and allowing God's truth to ferment inside me until it becomes somethiing good.

So, when it's hard to be still, I recommend literally meditating on what those two words mean.  Sit, and be still with those two words.  Let them ferment inside you--then taste, and see that the Lord is good.

Photo credit:"Briksha" by andrewscater is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0