It's a Midwest, mid-February afternoon, preceding a morning that was filled with misty, windy and cold air. The sidewalks are dangerously slick with ice and walking to and from classes has become a huge challenge.
It's one of those days where curling up in the campus bagel shop, next to the huge picturesque windows with a cup of deliciously hot coffee sounds extremely tempting.
It's also one of those days where I gratefully give into that temptation. As I sit here I am given the time to do some serious metacognitive thinking on my life since the last time I had the chance to sit and think. Frankly, it has been way too long. When is the last time that I took a step away from everything, from all my to-do lists and responsibilities? If I haven't even taken the time to not be thinking about something that has to be finished, what does that say about my spiritual rest? When was the last time that I meditated on God's word without rushing through to finish before a certain time? When was the last time that I really prayed without drifting off to sleep or getting distracted?
In Psalms 46:10, God commands that we be still and know that he is God. In this verse, the word still comes from the Hebrew word raphah which means to sink down, drop, relax, refrain from, and be quiet. What does relaxing or sinking down have to do with knowing that God is who he says he is? Can we really truly appreciate who God is when we are constantly distracted by other things? Will I listen to his voice if all I hear are the busy naggings of what I have to do? I'm not saying that being busy is bad. I just think that there may be times when we need to just sit in quiet stillness before God. Times when we need to get away from the noise of life and listen to the voice of our Creator. Times when we need to just take a step back and stand in awe of our all-mighty and all-powerful Father.
Today was one of those days. But instead of filling my extra time with more things, I was still in the presence of God.
I wish I had more Tuesdays.
