It takes time for the stillness to seep into my soul. Sunday I slipped away to a quiet place and watched as one by one the leaves fell. To say the leaves fell is to brief a description. I could not feel the breath of the wind but I watched as the leaves gently danced their way to earth. The stillness of the scene was not broken as each leaf was gently received to earth in unbroken silence.
"Be still and know that I am God." ( Psalm 46:10) This was the verse I thought of as I sat there in silence. But it was hard to be still when one by one the troubling events of the week came rushing to my mind. Somehow the quietness of the moment had allowed all the things I'd been trying not to think about to come to the surface.
When I looked this verse up in "Bares' Notes on the Bible" I found that the Hebrew words be still means to properly cast down, to let fall; to let hang down; then to be relaxed. It expresses the attitude of leaving matters with God and not being anxious about the issue. So as I watched the trees around me releasing the leaves that the fluttered to the ground I began to relax and let go of the troubles I had brought with me.
When I find a solitary place to be still I look around me at all the evidence that God is at work. I look around me and everywhere I look I see His finger prints. I see the silhouette of the tree whose last leaf has silently found it's way to earth. Now the tree looks as if it is raising it's arms in praise. Finally, I find both stillness and praise entering my soul as well.
Father, help me to carry this quiet moment back into my busy world.
That has always been one of my favorite verses, ever since i was a little girl.
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