Stillness
We fully recognize and honor God in the midst of stillness.
I have a son who is now two years old. He's a bundle of energy. One of the things he has a hard time with is just sitting still. He wants to explore. He wants to experience. He wants to try different things. Sitting still is hard for him. Even as adults, it's hard for us to be still. At any given time, we have dozens of thoughts going through our heads. We have plenty of things that need to get done. We have many people to meet. We're always on the go. This is part of the nature of living in this modern world. Practicing stillness rubs against how the world works today. Therefore, it's definitely no easy feat to practice stillness on a regular basis.
But stillness is essential to growing in our spiritual lives. We fully recognize and honor God in the midst of stillness. God encourages us to practice stillness with these words from the book of Psalms: "Be still, and know that I am God" (Ps. 46:10 ESV). It's hard to acknowledge God appropriately if we're not in stillness. When I'm out and about doing all sorts of things, it's actually hard for me to remember God and be present in the moment with Him. I'm more concerned about getting done whatever it is I'm doing. But when I intentionally practice stillness, I have the time, the space, and the posture to fully recognize and honor God—to fully know Him as my God.
Stillness requires me to do two things. It requires me to step out of something and to step into something. In stillness, I step out of external and internal pressures of life. For a period of time, I release myself from external responsibilities and I set aside any worries, fears, ambitions, and anything else that may plague my mind and heart. I step out of these things so that I can step into the presence of God and be fully engaged with Him.
This process of stepping out in order to step in is harder than it looks. Our hearts and minds are filled with all sorts of thoughts and worries. It may take time for us to release them. That's OK. We shouldn't get frustrated by that. It often takes me anywhere from 20-30 minutes just to step out of my thoughts and worries. But if I can successfully lay these burdens aside, I can then finally step fully into the presence of God and see Him for who He is. I begin to see how big and holy God is. And it brings me to worship Him.
My goal in stillness is to expand my view of God and to reduce my view of myself. I want to end up like John the Baptizer when he said, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (Jn. 3:30 ESV). I want to end my time of stillness having an appropriate perspective of how big, mighty, powerful, and loving God is. At the same time, I want to decrease my view of myself. I want to appropriately see myself in light of who God is.
It's a powerful moment when you see God for who He is and you see yourself for who you are. It's a very humbling experience. As I'm sitting there in stillness and contemplating on God, I often can't help but bow before the Lord and worship Him. It's not unusual for me to be rendered speechless. What more can I say to the almighty God?
Stillness is a key spiritual practice that will help put things into proper perspective. Although it's difficult at times to practice, if done successfully, stillness will enable you to have a proper view of God, a proper view of yourself, and a proper view of your circumstances. And when you have that proper view of all things, the peace that transcends all understanding comes.
Barnabas the Monastic
Servant of Christ. Husband. Dad. Modern Monastic. I have a wild ambition in life: get as close to the Lord Jesus Christ as I can while on earth. I explore and integrate ancient Christian monk wisdom in modern everyday life. Lives in Canada.
