Hello friends….. well that was a week to remind me that “Be Still” is the perfect thing to spend a year focused on and to show that it is not going to be very easy. In addition to the continued suffering in the world from unrest, political struggle, the reports of COVID rising – my own personal world is walking through a variety of growing pains. Life can be hard and no one said it was gonna be easy, but in there is a chance for growing in faith, cultivating the good things, and cherishing the people and the moments that do make life beautiful. That is where so much of my “Be Still” comes from and in the funniest way, it is a blessing that the first week of 2021 has brought such ups and downs, I continue to reflect on it.
In my first post on this topic I shared my choosing of “Be Still”. Today, I am sharing the perspective of God and be still. One of the most important aspects of my words of the year is to understand what it means in my faith life and how it can contribute to my relationship with my Lord.
We all know we have heard these words in the Bible and often in Christian life, but what do they really mean? So I started researching and one of my favorite finds was this post from Streams Poured Out Blog: 3 Meanings of Be Still because Shawna looked at the Hebrew word for be still – “raphah” and it’s three distinct meanings that I am taking pieces from to guide my practice:
1- Surrender to being silent & withdrawing
2 – Release & Let Go
3 – Cease striving and become weak
Wow. Now in my post about “Be Still & Me”, that is next, I will look into what these words mean for me… so today it is what all these words mean regarding God… and they all point to basically the same thing: do nothing without Him. Do not act… do not speak… do not fix… do not wonder… do not even wish and hope… leave everything INCLUDING YOUR WHOLE MIND, BODY AND SOUL to Him because he is now in charge. God is the conductor, the orchestrator, the leader – He is the one to call every shot and choose every path. These three definitions have clearly shown that in every possible way God is to be the one and only.
Wow…. in a world that champions work harder, do more, do not give up, never cease trying – these words could not be more opposite. And that too has its own meaning: God’s ways are not of this world … so the miracles he can produce are not anything we could begin to comprehend or imagine. And how amazing that not only is that the words God is using to call us, but that is His greatest desire – to be the center, to be our everything, to even work/fix/heal on our behalf.
Initially I thought this word for me would be about slowing down…. acting more AFTER I listen to God, calming my mind, body and spirit…. but to be learning it means radical surrender so God can act is unbelievably powerful. And clearly not just knowing, seeking and trusting Him working in our life and instead removing myself as a barrier to His access if my whole world…. well honestly, shows how much listening and learning I have to do! Even this blog post that is supposed to be solely focused on His role, guidance, perspective – I literally can’t write it without throwing in about me – what do I do, what do I need to learn, what do I feel… going to be an interesting year!
Following a year that produced the unimaginable, left my heart and body and mind in a state of pain and fear and anxiety… what a necessary for the new year: letting go so it can be God’s unimaginable. Be Still …. I am trying Lord.
Thank you so much for reading and remember to make it a great day!
Jackie
Have A Little Faith in We 