How the Urgent Gives Way to the Important (Blog Linkup)

Listen to this week’s podcast, BE STILL (THE BEST OF BE), by clicking here.

A MESSAGE FROM MONICA:

I desperately needed to be still.

The to do list was growing and the needs were multiplying and the conversations I was having with people in my head were clamoring and it suddenly dawned on me:

I needed to be still.

The internal earthquake was coming and I suddenly wasn’t sure if the foundation would hold up or not – usually a clear indication it’s time for me to stop striving, sink down, relax and know that He is God.

So I took the command to Be Still quite literally, because sometimes you just need to.

On the screened porch with coffee in hand, the timer set for 15 minutes, I did absolutely nothing. I didn’t pray, I didn’t journal, I didn’t read Jesus Calling or paint my nails or flip through a magazine or scroll through social media.

I sat completely still.

Of course my mind immediately went haywire – a million little things I didn’t want to forget gnawed at me incessantly and a scrolling list of texts and emails I hadn’t yet responded to zipped across my mind like lightening.

I started writing blog posts and book proposal ideas and podcast content – exclusively in my head – and then sat on my hands, quite literally, to fight the urge to grab a pencil and paper and jot down these brilliant (in my mind) one-liners I was scared to lose.

I noticed a cobweb that needed to be swept down in the corner, and a ferocious, spotlight shone on it for several lingering moments, urging me…challenging me…to get up and wipe it down. The rug needed to be swept off from clumps of dirt that stumbled off itty-bitty, muddy cleats. Cardboard boxes needed to be broken down and stuffed into the trash can.

It was so very, incredibly hard.

It had only been seven and a half minutes.

All the To Do’s screamed at me to get up and STOP BEING STILL ALREADY.

But I didn’t. I set my face like flint and was resolute to complete what should have been the easiest thing in the world.

And then. Softly, quietly, I began to notice a shift.

The wind rolled in from the east and in a holy hush it rained yellow and amber and orange leaves.

The neighbor’s dog barked off in the distance happily, and smoke billowed from where dead limbs were being sacrificed in a nearby burn pile, the scent of an offering of grace that blew across my face. Birds sang to each other and the sun cast long, lean shadows across the yard.

I heard myself exhale first, and then I felt it, too. A slow release that started in my mind and ended with my feet up on the coffee table, eyes closed and head rested on the chair — I was at peace.

Finally.

After seven and a half minutes, the urgent fell away and my mind woke up to the important.

The urgent gave way to the important. 

Be still and know that He is God.

We know this. Sometimes we know it in our head, but need to be reminded of it — that He is still God in the wind that rolls in from the east, in the leaves that fall like rain, in the billowing smoke of sacrifice and in the long, lean shadows.

When the computer is closed and the phone is dark and your mind is quieted, something supernatural happens and God uses our stillness to remove our scales so we can see.

Saul was blinded for three days in stillness – and it was in those three days that he obtained more understanding and clarity of Who God Was than all his years of synagogue and teaching.

And after he was still, he was transformed into Paul – the same man, but better. More assured. More certain. More free.

Be Still…then Be Free.

Saul the Pharisee focused on the DO, but Paul the Disciple focused on the BE.

Which will you focus on today? The Pharisee or the Disciple?

“If you hear My voice and abide in My word, you are truly My disciples; you will know the truth, and that truth will give you freedom.” – Jesus (John 8:31-32)

Now it’s your turn!

Write a blog post on what it means to Be Still and link up to the blog hop below. Make sure to read the post before yours and leave a comment; we want to encourage each other and expose ourselves to new voices.

Make sure to grab the graphic below to put at the end of your post so others can link up and join, too!

Love you friend! Take time to Be Still today.

(For more details on the heart behind our link-ups, click here.)