Being Still

"Being still and doing nothing are two very different things."

--Mr. Han played by Jackie Chan, Karate Kid

My husband fussed at me last night and it went something like this:

"What are you doing? Why must you always piddle with something? Can't you just sit down and be still?!"

I piddle. I'm a piddler.

I've been like this for as long as I can remember.

It stems from my childhood...but, that's another blog for another day.

I compare doing nothing, to being lazy.

I don't like lazy.

 Me and lazy do not see eye to eye.

 Never have.

Even when I sit...I am still doing something.

Reading, scrabble, writing...always something.

Never just nothing.

My husband's frustration comes from him seeing me at the end of my rope.

 He sees me each day, exhausted after attempting to "conquer my world" in a 24 hour period.

 My response to my husband's questions:

"Well if I don't do it, who will? If I don't do it now, that's just more I have to do tomorrow."

Boy...that sounded a tad bit boastful didn't it?

 I've somehow crowned myself Queen of All.

 I'm in dangerous territory.

 Yep... I'm quite the stubborn one.

The quote from the movie at the top of this page, is a very powerful statement and has been marinating in my soul since the moment I heard it

. God has been speaking to my stubborn heart ever since.

 I have said before, that I am a work in progress.

 That's an understatement.

 I pray that I continue to be a work of His

. I pray that God never finishes with me.

I pray that He continues to work in me, molding me and forming me into His perfect plan until my very last breath is taken on this earth.

 I struggle with being still.

I struggle with "being still", because I feel if I am doing nothing, then nothing gets accomplished.

The truth of the matter is, if I do nothing...that doesn't mean that God does nothing. It means that I must sit back in obedience while He does it for me.

 Just because I stop to rest and be still, doesn't mean that God stops.

 In fact, He works better when I'm not trying to do His job.

 I must take off the crown that I have placed on my own head, and bow in surrender to the King of Kings.

 I know with every fiber of my redeemed life that God's way is the Only way.

My way...well it comes with lots of bumps and flaws.

 I don't know why I try and trust "me", to fix and do what only He can.

 I need a vacation from ME!

I need to be still...

Psalm 46:10
 He says, "Be still and KNOW that I am God."

Being still is being obedient.

 Being still means knowing that God IS doing what I can't.

 Being still is trusting in God.

 Being still is listening to God.

Being still is growing with God.

 Being still is finding peace within God.

 So actually, when I am being still...I'm doing alot.

 I'm just not getting in the way...and that's where I go wrong.

God's plan for me won't change, because He never changes.

 But, I might make it harder on myself getting there.

 I create pathways of debris and chaos with my own stubborn will along the way.

I create a battle for myself that God never intended for me to fight.

He intends for me to live a life of peace, a life of knowing, a life of trusting.

In my stillness is where I will find that peace, that knowing, that trust.

 The scripture above goes on to say:

 I will be exalted among the nations. I will be exalted in the earth.

 If I'm not exalting Him...I'm exalting someone or something else.

That something is my own will, plan and pride.

That someone...is me.

 I want to exalt Him in ALL things. In my stillness He will be exalted.

Malachi 3:6 "I am the Lord, and I do not change."

My friend at Velour wrote a blog a couple of weeks ago titled: Year Naming. Her blog inspired me, and I decided to name 2011.

Ironically, I left a comment on that blog naming my year...The Year of Being Still.

 As a devoted friend, she wrote back to stand in agreement with me.

All I have to do now... is just do it!

Be still.

Being Still.

 Knowing.

 Trusting.

 That's what this year will be for me.

Because I now know, that being still and doing nothing...are two very different things!