Be still and know ...

"Be still" says the Psalm (Psalm 46:10). But I don't find it easy. When I get down to the church office in the morning there are always plenty of things to do, so I want to "get on". But God wants me to be still and know his presence.

So I've developed a new tactic. The temptation is to switch on the computer straight away as it takes a fair amount of time to load everything up. But if I do that, I get distracted by emails, etc. So I don't turn on the monitor. When it goes quiet, I know it's time to enter in my password, and I can do that without the screen. Then, as I have an email "hot key", I can press that and know the emails are loading up.

Then, when I've had a time of quiet, I can switch on the monitor, and all is ready to go!

This morning I was pointed to the hymn "Dear Lord and Father of mankind", so I re-read the words. It reminds us that our words and works can drown out the "tender whisper" of his call and cause us to miss his blessing.

Then I read these words, God whispers in order to draw us closer to him.... Through his voice, I begin to recognize not just the handiwork of what he does, but the heartbeat of who he is. (Margaret Feinberg, The Organic God, p. 96)

I still need to learn the lesson of being still, and knowing God's presence, but maybe I'm slowly getting there. One day I might even be able to NOT switch on my office computer as soon as I get in!