Be Still and Know that I am God

This morning it seems to me that so much of what we do on a daily basis is more or less meaningless. We focus so much on the outside world and are in such a habit of doing that  we don't see that underneath all that activity, is a fear. Perhaps it is a fear of our own power, a fear of an encounter with the ultimate Creator. Whatever it is exactly for each of us, it is an unconscious, habitual rampant anxiety, that runs through our days and our lives like a spiritual diuretic.  I think the worlds from Psalm 46:10, "Be still and know" are almost like one of the greatest commandments.  If only we could be still.

There are so many days when I know I should spend more time in meditation, reading scripture or other spiritual writings, a bit more like a Zen monk than a modern American woman. I know I should write more, which I am too often just too lazy to do. I know that I allow "the world" to sway me, rocking me here and there, and even though I know better, I still find myself procrastinating writing, or meditating, reading, doing those things that are of ultimate importance.  I am so guilty of coming in below the bar which I know I need to set so much higher for myself. I wonder if you feel that way sometimes too?

I only share this glimpse of my own shortcomings because I know we're all alike in most ways and I have come to realize that I put off doing what I know I should do, which is settling down, getting quiet, going inward, listening to the silence until I am somehow encountered by the love of the Holy.

On so many times, I've found myself listening to long conversations with various people who go on at great length about absolutely unimportant stuff - too often it's gossip - and I wonder, as I listen, trying to be patient, do they realize the insignificance of their preoccupation with the happenings of another unhappy person, or the stock market, or the job market, real estate decline? Do they realize we cannot control the external world individually, aside from voting and taking reasonable political action stances? 

But, what if we would center and focus on the Divine within us, we would rise up as on eagle's wings, we would soar, grow huge spiritual wings, reach the mountain tops from whose lofty pinnacles we would be able to see the smallness of our little, individual ordinary lives, steeped in worry and misery, pettiness and poverty.

So, this morning, I invite you, as I also am recommitting to do, to spend an hour each day in complete silence, listening to your own mind's frenetic rapid fire thoughts, until they begin to subside. A wonderful Buffalo Diocesan priest, Fr. John Mergenhagen, once said not to worry about silencing your mind, because after about 20 minutes it will just naturally silence itself. Just sit there and wait, perhaps detach a bit and listen to your own thoughts flying around. Eventually, even they will see the uselesslness of their machine gun firing and slow down. 

You can contol your thoughts and your mind even if you can't control anything else in life.

All it takes is a simple decision to think about what you think about, what you talk about and you will see that what you do or reach for will become so much more meaningful and will make a much finer contribution to life. 

No thought, no word, no action goes unnoticed or without some kind of impact on our divine matrix of life. You can make a difference if you slow it all down, make it all count and be very, very intentional about your thoughts, how you spend your moments, hours and days and what you spend your time and energy thinking about and talking about.

Each one of you is so much more important than you know.  You all are really making a significant difference in the world.