Are you any good at sitting still? I’ve been working on being still lately. Which sounds funny to say, because you’re actively trying to be in-active for a bit. It seems like I am in a perpetual state of wanting to be doing for the Lord, or just to be doing, while sometimes I think He wants me to just be being for Him. He keeps reminding me that He loves me, and cares more about me than what I can do for Him.

Lately we’ve taken the time to just be for Him in some different ways, and it has meant we’ve been available to others in a way I didn’t expect. Our decision not to jump in and start doing like crazy — to give ourselves time to settle in and find our feet in a new country and new circumstances — has meant we’ve been able to open up our home and our lives to a friend who needed some space and a place to be as well. It has also meant we’ve been being with our neighbours (not just doing, and baking cookies for them, although that is happening, too!) and in the midst of our being, we’ve decided to start studying the Bible together every week or two. When you aren’t so caught up in doing for God, or for whatever, and you take the time to just be it seems like it makes you more available to do the things God would have you do, and you don’t get caught up spinning your wheels, just so you can cross tasks off the to-do list.

The Lord is still the Lord. He is still sovereign and He is still on the throne. Whatever is happening in the world around us, it is sometimes good to remember that. And sometimes, the best place for us to be isn’t in the kitchen trying to make something happen for Him, but instead at His feet, quietly just being with Him.

Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!

Psalm 46:10

My friend Amanda wrote a post about this subject recently that I thought was really good. Check it out here.