Be Still and Know

I was talking with a friend recently, and she mentioned that she had just woken up from a nap.

I blurted, “Oh, I love a nap.”

I was talking with a friend recently, and she mentioned that she had just woken up from a nap.

I blurted, “Oh, I love a nap.”

But she said, “I actually don’t.”

She told me that when she wakes up from a nap, she often feels anxious and unsettled, with the sense that while she was asleep, something was happening and she was missing it. 

She has realized that being busy can actually feel easier than being still. When she is moving from one thing to the next, there are things to notice: a conversation that went well; something beautiful; a problem solved. Being busy offers only tiny spaces to experience gratitude, and even to notice God.

But when everything stops, there is suddenly space, and space doesn't always fill itself with peace.

We often talk about rest as though the only thing keeping us from it is our busy schedules. But sometimes when life gets quiet, we become aware of what the activity may have been keeping at bay.

I have been thinking about that as we begin another program year at Christ Church, because this is such a full season. There is something happening almost every day of the week, with moments to worship and gather and grow for every age. In this time, there are countless small moments when we can notice God’s goodness and give thanks.

But Scripture gives us Sabbath, too.

Sabbath asks us to stop producing, solving, organizing, planning, answering, and helping. It reminds us of something we can easily forget: God continues to be God when we stop.

This is why rest takes practice. We learn to leave some space unfilled, to be still even when stillness does not immediately feel peaceful, and to trust that God is present there too.

There is a prayer in the Book of Common Prayer that asks for exactly that kind of trust. It doesn't promise that everything around us will become quiet. It asks that, in the midst of all that fills our days, we might find our strength in returning, in rest, and in the ever-presence of God.

Let us pray.

O God of peace, who has taught us that in returning and rest we shall be saved, in quietness and in confidence shall be our strength: By the might of thy Spirit lift us, we pray, to your presence, where we may be still and know that you are God; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

– The Book of Common Prayer, p. 832