Wednesday, February 17

Where is your quiet space? 

Be still, and know that I am God.” 

Psalm 46:10 

A couple sent a Pack ’n’ Play portable crib to their friends who had been blessed with their fourth child. Two weeks later, the mother responded with this note: “Thanks, many thanks, and thanks again for the Pack ’n’ Play. It comes in so handy — I sit in it every afternoon and read and think. When I’m in it, the children can’t get near me.”

Our world is a fast-moving, hectic place. We all need a little solitude from our busy lives, the demands of our jobs, the distractions of our devices — a time to be still, to be quiet, to let go.

When is your quiet time? Are you comfortable with silence? I value the late night, after everyone is asleep. I sit quietly in my chair in the dark of my bedroom. A time to reflect, re-new and pray. I find mornings distracting. I wake to the nois-es in my head, replaying yesterday and organizing today. I hear the bark of the dog waiting to go out, the ding of my emails and text messages, etc. But it is at night, when the noise subsides, that I crave the quiet and stillness. It is my time with God. It is a time that I can talk intimately with Him with no distractions, share my fears and shortcomings, re-flect on my past and present, and thank Him for my many blessings.

Jesus spent many days teaching and healing, being followed by crowds from place to place. In Mark 4:35-41, Jesus, along with the disciples, leaves the crowds and takes a boat out onto a lake. A storm brews, causing massive waves, and the boat begins to fill with water. The disciples wake Jesus who is sleeping and ask him, “Don’t you care if we drown?” Jesus wakes up and demands the storm, “Be quiet! Be still!” The waves subside and the water calms.

Where is your quiet place – a Pack ’n’ Play, a bedroom chair, a boat in the middle of a lake? I invite you to claim your own quiet space, to be still, to let go and to surrender your thoughts to God.

God of peace, we praise you. We give you thanks for your invitation and approval to be still and quiet. So often we ask so much from you, but do not take the time to stop and lis-ten for you. As the world demands us to be busy, let us re-member that you ask us to be still so that we may be aware of your love, peace and guidance. In your name we pray. Amen. 

Angela Graham