Be Still

It was a lovely little restroom, tucked between the lobby and the lounge of a beautiful resort. I had accompanied my husband to a church workers’ conference, taking advantage of a quick get-away opportunity. He was attending meetings and I was on my own, exploring the resort complex. During my stroll, I ducked into this small restroom, enjoying the relaxed pace and the welcome break from my hurried life that affected even the most basic necessities like restroom time! Uninterrupted. No one hollering, “Is dinner ready yet?” No one holding me to a schedule. No dog barking; no phone ringing; no soup boiling over on the stove.

Then, in the middle of my restroom respite, everything went black. I was surrounded by sudden and complete darkness. I couldn’t see a thing. Blinking hard, I wondered for a moment if I had gone blind. Then I guessed that perhaps the power had gone out. I sat completely still, listening for commotion in the lobby. Nothing out of the ordinary. Oh dear. What could be wrong? (And where was the toilet paper roll, anyway?) As I sat in panicked silence, my mind raced through options. Should I call out for help? How was I going to make my way out of here and to my room? If I was blind, I was going to need to learn to feel for things in the dark, right? So I slowly reached out my hand. And PRESTO! Light flooded the small room once again. The motion-sensitive lightswitch was triggered by the movement of my hand.

All at once three emotions hit me: RELIEF (I was not blind, after all!) EMBARASSMENT (I mean, really! I was panicking over a motion-sensitive light that was just doing its job.) HUMOR (For obvious reasons, the giggles hit me hard! I almost wanted to tell my story to the front desk staff. Almost.)

All this happened because I actually sat still – long enough for the lights to go out. Amazing! That would never happen at home, would it? Not likely, since 1,500 priorities vie for my attention on any given day and I must be on-the-move if I want to accomplish them all. (The only time I am completely still is when the lights are out, because it’s the middle of the night and I’m ASLEEP!) Was the Lord using my silly incident on this day to remind me to simply slow down? To redirect me to make time for the true respite that only He can give? To simply BE STILL before my Savior?

I walked to my room and pondered this. I pulled out my journal and my Bible and I began to write: “Help me to focus on You…to be still and let You speak to me…” As I sat completely still, listening for the Lord, He spoke to me through His Word. “Be still and know that I am God…” (Psalm 46:10) “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” (Jesus’ words in Matthew 11:28)

  

Perhaps we have been on-the-move for so long that we wonder what will happen if we stop. Will the “lights go out”? Will we panic? Will we call out for help? Without God’s guiding hand upon our lives, we grope about in spiritual blindness, managing to make our way here and there as we labor, but struggling for lack of direction and failing to find rest. In His amazing mercy, our Lord Jesus calls us to come to Him. To rest in His forgiveness, in His presence, and in His Word. We reach out our hands and PRESTO! His light floods the darkness and we realize He was with us all along. He enables us to BE STILL, and He gives us rest.